


new moon - larry au

by kenthedoll



Series: twilight - larry au [2]
Category: One Direction (Band), Twilight (Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Assault, Attempted Murder, Attempted Sexual Assault, Blood Drinking, Breaking Up & Making Up, Disabled Character(s), F/M, Fluff, Graphic depictions of violence - Freeform, Human Louis Tomlinson, Love Triangle, M/M, Minor Character Death, Murder, Pathokinesis, Pining, Sexual Situations, Strength, Telepathy, Torture, Unrequited Love, Vampire Harry Styles, Vampires, Werewolves, american!louis, enhanced abilities/powers, mentions of depression/suicide, precognition/foresight, speed - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:47:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 21,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25650853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenthedoll/pseuds/kenthedoll
Summary: After making a full recovery from a vampire attack that almost claimed his life, Louis looks forward to celebrating his 18th birthday with Harry and his family. However, a minor accident during the festivities results in Louis' blood being shed once again; A sight that proves too intense for the Styles, who decide to leave the town of Forks, Washington altogether, for Louis and Harry's sake.Initially heartbroken by the abrupt abandonment of his lover, Louis finds comfort in living recklessly, as well as forming an even closer friendship with his childhood best friend, Jacob Black.However, danger always awaits, in many different forms.ORThe Larry version of Stephenie Meyer's 2006 novel "New Moon" and Chris Weitz's 2009 film of the same name.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale, Des Styles/Anne Twist, Emmett Cullen/Rosalie Hale, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, brief Louis Tomlinson/Jacob Black, mentions of past Johannah Deakin/Mark Tomlinson
Series: twilight - larry au [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859509
Kudos: 16





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> 🖤AUTHOR'S NOTE🖤
> 
> This story is the sequel to "Twilight." If you haven't read the first book (available in my works), I highly recommend you do so before reading this, otherwise this story may not make very much sense!
> 
> THIS STORY IS A DIRECT COPY OF THE MOVIE "NEW MOON"
> 
> IT HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM MY WATTPAD ACCOUNT (@ ken-the-doll) BECAUSE OF WATTPAD'S INCREASING RESTRICTIONS

_"These violent delights have violent ends, and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which, as they kiss, consume."_

**"Romeo & Juliet" by, William Shakespeare**

**\---**

"Happy birthday," Mark beamed after he had knocked on my door and joined me in my bedroom that morning. He also had some sort of gift all wrapped up, including a little bow, that he set on my lap because I'd been sitting up in bed.

"I thought we agreed, no presents?" I offered him a knowing look.

"Well, the one from me's not wrapped, so it doesn't count," he said before reaching into his back pocket to retrieve a new digital camera with a matching decorative bow on top.

My smile widened as he handed it over, and I honestly told him, "that's actually great. Thanks, dad."

He continued to beam, even as he handed me the wrapped gift. "It goes with this one, from your mom. We coordinated. Well, _she_ coordinated _me_ ," he chuckled softly.

I tore the paper away in order to reveal some sort of picture frame with multiple smaller frames inside it.

"It's to put your pictures in from senior year," he said, then upon being reminded that I was really a senior this year, he repeated, "senior year..." in astonishment. "How'd you get so old so fast?"

"I didn't," I shook my head defensively. "It's not _that_ old."

"I don't know," he pursed his lips in though as he reached out to single out a strand of my hair. "Is that a gray hair?"

"No... no way," I furrowed my brows at that, and I quickly stood to look at myself in the mirror beside my bed, only to find that he had just been teasing me.

"Happy birthday," he smirked on his way out of my room.

"That's really funny," I muttered in response with a smirk of my own.

**\---**

"It's Louis!" I heard Niall cheer from where he stood with Liam, Perrie, and Jade in the parking lot at school. "Louis!" he waved to me when I passed them in my truck and pulled into a parking spot.

"Today's the big day, Louis!" Perrie said after I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat and joined them by Liam's Jeep. "The R and J essay is due," she reminded me.

"Oh, yeah," I nodded, and I made a mental note to stop by the library so I could print it out before class.

"Wherefore art thou, Louis?" Liam exclaimed jokingly, earning a few laughs from the rest of us before I remembered the gift that my father had given me that morning.

"Let me take a picture of you guys," I requested as I dug the camera out of my backpack and turned it on. "My mom wants me to put together, like, a scrapbook full of memories," I couldn't help but smile in regard to my mother's wholesomeness.

"Oh, cool, yeah," Niall nodded enthusiastically and casually moved to wrap a friendly arm around Liam's shoulders, who had his opposite arm around Perrie's waist.

"I take them. I'm not in them," Jade said, and she was about to step out of the shot when, thankfully, Niall reached for her hand and pulled her back in.

"No, no, no. Come here," he grinned at her as she blushed.

"Well, you are today," I aimed the camera toward them then.

"You'll photoshop this if my nose looks big, right?" Perrie asked through her pearly white smile.

"Don't worry, I'm in the picture," Niall told them. "No one will be looking at you guys."

I shook my head at Perrie & Niall's jokes before I hummed fondly at the sight of the pair of smiling couples and snapped a photo.

"That's good," I nodded at the final product, just as they were all peering over my shoulder, presumably to see who had just pulled into the parking lot.

"Oh, good," Liam hummed sarcastically, "Styles is here."

"Yay," Niall cheered weakly.

"Well, talk to you later," Perrie and Jade both offered me bright smiles, and flirty little waves, before I finally turned around to face _him_.

Harry stepped out of his car and strode over to me with a confidence about him that seemed to leave me breathless every time.

It made perfect sense to me, and not only because I found his confidence to be incredibly alluring, but because he'd had plenty of time to build up a decently solid amount of self-esteem.

Though, he must've caught me checking him out because I realized that he was smirking once I finally made eye contact with him.

"Happy birthday," he wished me when he was close enough to reach down and hold onto my hands.

"Don't remind me," I whined in response.

"Louis, your birth is _definitely_ something to celebrate."

"Yeah, but my _aging's_ not."

"Your _aging_?" he chuckled fondly at that. "I think 18 is a little young to start worrying about that."

"It's one year older than _you_ ," I teased him quietly.

"No, it isn't," he smirked once more. "I'm 109."

"Well, maybe I shouldn't be dating such an old man," I shrugged at that. "It's _gross_. I should be _thoroughly_ repulsed."

"Uh huh," he smiled when he immediately leaned in to kiss me once, twice, three times, before pulling away with a shaky sigh. "We have to go to class."

"Okay," I nodded, and I was fully prepared to do just about anything he asked, as long as I was the one who got to call him mine.

"Wait a second," he reached for my hand before I could get too far. "Someone wants you," he nodded his head to his left, just before I heard a familiar voice calling my name.

"Louis!"

"Jacob," I smiled out of pleasant surprise at the sight of my closest friend as he approached us.

"I'll leave you to talk," Harry pursed his lips before turning to wait for me at the front of the school.

"Hello, biceps," I joked which caused Jacob to flush red. "You know, anabolic steroids are really bad for you," I teased him light-heartedly and he chuckled at that.

"Well, I'm just filling out, Louis," he grinned. "You know, it wouldn't seem so drastic if we hung out more."

"You should switch schools," I shrugged. "You can come hang out with the palefaces."

"I'm alright," he assured me. "I prefer the rez school's exclusivity. They let any ol' riffraff into this place," he ruffled my hair and I smacked his arm away with a giggle.

"I see," I said. "Then, why are you slumming it?"

"I was just buying a part for the Rabbit," he explained. "You should really come take a ride when it's done."

"Is it fast?" I smirked at his offer.

"Um... it's _decent_ ," he shrugged modestly before giving a soft laugh. "I'm kidding," he assured me after a moment.

"Okay, good."

"Hey, happy birthday," Jacob nodded. " _Your_ dad told _my_ dad, so..."

"Yeah, of course he did," I pursed my lips at that.

"I saw this the other day and... thought of you," he shrugged again before he held up a tiny, handmade dreamcatcher, and let it dangle from his fingertips for a moment. "Catches bad dreams," he told me as he handed it over.

"Wow, that's kind of perfect," I nodded gratefully, considering the amount of unwanted dreams of my elderly self that I'd been having, just about every other night, as of late. "Thank you."

"No problem," he chirped. "Well, good seeing you," he opened his arms for a hug.

"Yeah, I'll see you later," I promised when I immediately squeezed him around his, unexpectedly solid, middle.

**\---**

"So, how come _Jacob Black_ gets to give you a gift, and I don't?" Harry inquired after Jacob had left and I finally joined him at the front of the school.

"Because I have nothing to give back to you," I answered while we walked side by side into the building and down the, now empty, expanse of the main hallway.

"Louis, you give me everything just by breathing," he shook his head at that, and he wrapped a strong arm around my waist, to which I leaned into his comforting touch.

"See? Thank you," I hummed happily. "That's all I want."

"Louis!" I heard Alice's voice sounding from somewhere in front of us just before she suddenly came rushing down the steps from the second floor. "Happy birthday!" she cheered, and I tried to be polite as possible in shushing her about it, as she hugged me tight.

Then, when she pulled away from me, she reached into her bag and handed me a sleek, professionally-wrapped box that had been tucked away inside of it.

"I thought I said no presents..."

"I've already seen you open it and guess what?" Alice playfully rolled her eyes at me. "You _love_ it!" she immediately answered her own question. "You're gonna wear it, tonight... _our_ place."

I glanced up at Harry then, who gave me a shrug as if to say it was out of his hands, and Alice giggled at my indecisiveness.

"Come on, please? It'll be fun!" she enthused, and with the look of pure excitement on her adorable face, how could I possibly deny her this?

"Okay. Alright," I found myself giving in to her request with a small smile, which caused her to squeal happily.

"Great!" she cheered. "Okay. I'll see you at 7!"

She skipped over to Jasper then and I sighed at the smirk he gave me that made me realize he had momentarily manipulated my emotions in favor of Alice's wishes.

"Jasper, no fair with the mood control thing," I whined.

"Sorry, Louis," he offered a genuine smile along with his apology. "Happy--" he pursed his lips when I narrowed my eyes at him before he could finish wishing me a happy birthday. "Never mind," he chuckled before Alice began to lead him away to their first class of the day.

"You can't trust vampires," Harry told me then. "Trust me."


	2. one

"I hate being celebrated..." I whispered to Harry as we were sat together in the back of our English class, watching Franco Zeffirelli's _Romeo & Juliet_, that afternoon.

"There are worse tragedies," he shrugged at that, speaking just as quietly. "I mean, look at Romeo; Killed his true love out of sheer stupidity... though I do envy him one thing."

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement, "Juliet is, like, _perfect_... if you like that _obviously beautiful_ sort of thing."

Harry offered a soft laugh in response. "No, not the girl, the uh... the suicide," I gave him a look, but he continued. "It's nearly impossible... for some people. For humans, a little poison, a dagger to the heart..." he shrugged simply. "There's so many different options."

"Why would you say that?" I shook my head at him, completely oblivious as to why he was suddenly speaking so morbidly.

"Because I had to consider it once," he answered, in reference to the day James had bitten me. "I didn't know if I'd get to you in time... I had to come up with some kind of plan."

"What was the plan?"

"I'd go to Italy and provoke the Volturi..." he shrugged once again.

"The what?"

"The Volturi," he repeated, just before the movie was suddenly being paused, and our teacher was speaking to the class.

"Now, who'd like to repeat the last few lines of iambic pentameter, just to show they were paying attention?" he hummed curiously. "Mr. Styles?"

"Uh--Yes, Mr. Berty," Harry took a deep breath and sighed quietly on the exhale before sitting up in his seat in order to do so. "O here will I set up my everlasting rest and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last. Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, O you, the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death!"

Mr. Berty offered an irritated groan before muttering, "eyes on the screen, people," and allowing the movie to continue.

**\---**

"The Volturi are a very old, very _powerful_ family," Harry told me, as we stood in his house before a massive painting of several regal-looking vampires, that were standing among the halls of a grand estate in Volterra, Italy. "I guess they're the closest thing to royalty my world has."

"Is that... Desmond?" I asked curiously and took a step closer to get a better look at the man's face to be absolutely certain of it.

"Yeah," Harry confirmed my suspicions, before explaining, "he lived with them for a few decades. Described them as very refined. No respect for human life, of course, but a respect for the arts and the sciences, at least... and the law. Above all, the law."

"Vampires have laws?" I raised a brow at that, though I supposed it made sense.

"Not very many," he said, "and only one that's regularly enforced."

"What is it?"

"That we keep the existence of our kind a secret, we don't make spectacles of ourselves, and we don't kill conspicuously. Unless, of course, you want to die."

"You've gotta stop talking about that," I shook my head at him with a pleading look. "I can't even _think_ about someone hurting you."

"Louis... the only thing that can hurt me, is you," he offered a bittersweet half-smile. "I don't have anything else to be afraid of."

"That's not true," I replied, in reference to James' girlfriend, who was still out there somewhere.

"Victoria?" he hummed in thought. "She'll come for me, one day. Alice will see when she decides and we'll be ready."

"I could protect you, if you change me..." I tried to persuade him, even if I knew that was a losing battle every time.

Harry moved closer and slid his hands down, along my waist, so I held onto the lapel of his blazer as he spoke. "Louis, you already do protect me. You're my only reason to stay alive... if that's what I am," he shook his head self-deprecatingly, "but it's my job to protect you... from everyone except my sister."

When I glanced up at his face again to find him gazing over my shoulder, I craned my head around to spot Alice standing in the doorway at the other side of the room.

"It's time!" she singsonged. "It's time, it's time, it's time!" she gushed on her way over to me.

She took my hands in her own, causing Harry to chuckle in amusement, and then she led me down the stairs and into the foyer, where the rest of the family had been all dressed up and waiting for my arrival.

"Sorry about all of this," Desmond gave me a knowing smile. "We tried to rein Alice in."

"As if that were even possible," Anne light-heartedly teased her daughter as she brought me into a warm hug, and Alice began to take photographs of us with my camera. "Happy birthday, Louis," Anne wished me, and despite cringing on the inside, I still graciously thanked her for it.

I turned to give Alice a look then, as I wasn't entirely sure how she had even managed to obtain my camera in the first place.

"I found it in your bag," she explained sheepishly. "You mind?"

I shook my head at that, and gave a soft sigh when I heard Emmett teasing Harry near the stairs, "dating an older man? Hot."

Harry shook his head at that with a curt laugh.

"What?" Emmett asked as Alice lifted a small, wrapped box from the table against the wall, and handed it to Rosalie.

"You first, Rosalie," Alice told her, so she reluctantly accepted the box before presenting it to me bluntly.

"It's a necklace," Rosalie explained to me flatly. "Alice picked it out."

"Thanks," I offered a pursed-lipped smile at that. Meanwhile, Alice tugged Harry over from the stairs and brought his arm around my shoulders.

"Show me the love," Alice beamed as she aimed my camera at us, and Harry couldn't help but smirk at the unenthusiastic expression on my face as she snapped the photo. "This one's from Emmett," she told me when she handed me another gift, which came in a much larger box, but seemed to weigh absolutely nothing.

I carefully shook the box, and I glanced back at Emmett expectantly, when I couldn't hear any sort of noise coming from the contents.

"Already installed it in your truck," he explained with a smirk. "Finally, a decent sound system for that piece of crap--"

"Hey, don't hate the truck," I shook my head at that with a matching smirk, which even had Rosalie smiling for once.

"Open Anne and Desmond's!" Alice told me next and quickly brought me a little blue envelope.

"Just a little something to brighten your day," Desmond hummed cheerfully.

"Yes, you've been looking kind of pale lately," Anne teased me light-heartedly.

I offered them a grateful smile and began to tear into the envelope, but in doing so, I had accidentally sliced the tip of my finger along the sharp edge of the paper. I quietly hissed for a moment before assuring them that it was just a, "paper cut..."

I glanced from my now bleeding fingertip, up at Harry, who had been staring forward at something, or rather someone, at the other side of the room.

In a quick flash of events, I followed his gaze to find Jasper staring back at me with pupils blown out wide, and Harry abruptly shoved me backward into the wall behind us, before lunging forward to keep Jasper from attacking me.

My body roughly collided with the table against the wall, shattering one of Anne's vases, and slicing the flesh of my bicep in the process, which I knew was not going to bode well for me, considering I was standing within a house full of vampires, and one of them had just tried to come after me over a tiny paper cut.

"Jaz... Jaz!" Alice brought her hands up to Jasper's face and tried to console him, as Harry and Emmett had to work together to hold their snarling brother in place. "It's okay. It's just a little... blood..." she seemed to zone out for a moment when she glanced back at me and realized that I was bleeding a lot heavier than I had been just a moment ago.

"Get Jasper out of here," Desmond told them as he moved to my side and carefully reached for my arm in order to assess the extent of the damage.

"I'm sorry, I can't..." Alice admitted sadly before she made her leave behind Emmett and Jasper.

Rosalie followed suit not long after, but Harry remained standing there broodingly, just a few feet away within the foyer, despite the strong scent of my blood that I could easily tell was assaulting his senses.

"I'll have to stitch this up in my office," Desmond sighed softly before he glanced back at Harry. "Check on Jasper," he requested of him. "I'm sure he's very upset with himself and I doubt he'll listen to anyone, but you, right now."

Then Harry looked me in the eye, with a look that appeared borderline contempt, and it made me swallow anxiously as I stared back at him in concern. I deeply wished that I could read his thoughts in that moment.

" _Harry_ ," Desmond easily snapped us out of it, and with that, Harry was making his leave in order to help console his brother.

**\---**

"I never wanted to have a party..." I admitted sheepishly from where I'd been sitting within Desmond's home office.

"It's not your fault," he shook his head dismissively as he gently removed tiny bits of broken glass from my arm with a pair of tweezers. "Jasper hasn't been away from human blood as long as the rest of us," he explained.

"How do you do it?" I asked curiously, as I had never seen Desmond act so _helplessly_ around the sight, or the smell, of human blood before. I mean, the guy was a _doctor_ , for crying out loud.

"Years and years of practice," he told me simply.

"Did you ever think of just doing it the easy way?" I subtly asked him if he had ever considered drinking from humans instead, and I winced every now and then, as he began to stitch me up.

"No," he answered. "I knew who I wanted to be; I wanted to help people. It brings me happiness... even if I am damned, regardless," his smile faded a bit after saying that.

"Damned? Like _Hell_?" I furrowed my brows in confusion at that, but he didn't answer right away, and I just shook my head. "Desmond, you couldn't be damned. You _couldn't_. It's impossible."

"Thank you, Louis..." he replied with a half-smile. "You've always been very... _gracious_ about us."

"So, that's it?" I asked him when I looked away then. " _That's_ why he won't change me?"

"Imagine the situation in reverse, hm?" he suggested as he gently tilted my chin up. "If you believed as Harry does, could you take away his soul?"


	3. two

"You can't protect me..." I told Harry, after he'd driven me home in my truck that night and put it in park within the driveway, "from _everything_. At some point, something's gonna separate us."

Harry didn't reply, so I took it as a sign to continue.

"It's gonna be an accident... or illness, or old age. As long as I'm _human_... and the only solution is to _change me_."

"That's not a _solution_ ," Harry shook his head, and initially, he wouldn't meet my gaze. "That's a _tragedy_."

"You're not gonna want me, when I look like a _grandfather_..." I shook my head self-deprecatingly, and when I glanced over to the driver's seat, he was no longer sitting there.

In a split second, the passenger door was opening at my side, and Harry was standing there before me with a look of disappointment on his face.

"Louis, do you not understand my feelings for you, at all?"

"Desmond told me... how you feel about your soul," I told him. "I don't believe that," I shook my head again. "So, don't worry about mine."

"You should go inside..." Harry told me softly, which subtly showed that he didn't care to continue this conversation, and I sighed to myself before climbing out of the truck.

"It's still my birthday," I thought aloud when I looked up into his eyes. "So, can I ask one thing?"

He seemed a bit hesitant and I could tell he'd assumed that I would ask him to change me again.

"Kiss me?" I asked instead, and his features seemed to soften with my request, before he was leaning down to fulfill it.

I carded my fingertips through the curls at his nape, and my entire body melted into his embrace, despite his overall lack of body heat. His lips were soft and gentle against my own, but his hands on my waist were holding me with a near bruising strength, which told me that he still had a hard time controlling himself around me.

Then he brought his hands up to carefully caress my face instead, and I really couldn't help it when I softly moaned against his bitten, red lips.

Harry pulled away then, with furrowed brows and a shaky sigh, and I immediately reminded him that, "I love you."

"I love you..." he whispered in response, before he was turning on his heel in order to walk home, at the speed of sound.

**\---**

The following week, the school days seemed to drag on and on, and it was mostly due to the fact that I couldn't seem to spot Harry, or _any_ of the Styles for that matter, anywhere on campus.

Not in class, nor sitting at their usual table at lunch, and not even in the parking lot, near their cars, before or after school.

All of them had no-showed that week.

But when I returned home to find Harry waiting for me in my front yard, I tried to bite back my eager smile, as I stepped out of my truck and met him on the lawn.

"Hey," I greeted him, and any traces of enthusiasm left me when he wouldn't meet my eyes again.

"Come take a walk with me..." he nodded his head toward the thick cover of trees that surrounded the property, and I swallowed anxiously, but moved to follow him when he began to lead the way into the forest.

When we were deep enough, between several tree trunks and the ethereal sound of songbirds, I could sense Harry's hesitation before he even turned to face me.

"We have to leave Forks," he suddenly announced, and I felt my stomach flip, but he still couldn't seem to meet my gaze.

"Why?" I tried to ask with more conviction, but it came out as a timid whisper instead.

"Desmond's supposed to be 10 years older than he looks, and people are starting to notice..." was his initial reply.

"Okay," I nodded as I thought it over. "I've gotta think of something to say to Mark--"

Harry was looking at me then, but his gaze appeared to hold something similar to that of regret, and my lips subconsciously parted when I realized that they were planning on leaving me behind.

"When you say _we_...?" my jaw set tight, and I shook my head, as I couldn't even finish voicing the thought.

"I mean my family and myself," he told me.

I felt the tears welling up in my eyes, but I tried my best to remain calm, even as I said, "Harry, what happened with Jasper... It's _nothing_..." I shook my head again.

"You're right. It was _nothing_ ," Harry replied somewhat sarcastically, causing my brows to furrow, "nothing, but what I always expected... and nothing, compared to what _could have_ happened. You just don't belong in my world, Louis..."

"I belong with _you_ ," I countered quietly, and I absolutely hated that my lower lip began to tremble then.

"No. You don't."

"I'm coming," I said sternly.

"Louis, I don't _want_ you to come."

My tears were streaming down my face by then, as I was taken aback by his sharp response.

"You... you don't _want me_...?"

Then, what felt like a tsunami of both trauma and pain from my past, began raging within me when he simply replied, " _no_."

"That changes things..." I nodded curtly. "A _lot_..."

"But, if it's not too much to ask..." he began and my jaw set again, as I didn't feel he really had the right to request anything of me anymore, "can you just promise me something?"

I scoffed at his question.

As if he really cared.

"Don't do anything reckless," he shook his head knowingly, and I found myself doing the same in response, but out of disappointment. "For Mark's sake."

I hated myself for it, but I quietly began to sob upon hearing that because he used to make sure that I was taking care of myself for _his_ sake.

"I'll promise something to you, in return," he said. "This is the last time you'll ever see me."

As angry and heartbroken as I felt in that moment, I shook my head once again in a last-ditch effort to try and change his mind, even if I could easily tell that he was firm in his decision to leave me.

"I won't come back, and you can go on with your life, without any interference from me. It'll be like I never existed... I promise," his gaze held deep sincerity within it as he spoke, and I absolutely _hated it_.

"I-If this is about my _soul_? _Take it_. I don't _want_ it, without you."

Harry shook his head before he said, "it's not about your soul. You're just not good for me," he spoke through gritted teeth.

"Not good _enough_ for you," I corrected him, as I was suddenly reminded of Perrie's words, from my first day at Forks High.

_He's totally gorgeous, obviously, but apparently nobody here's good enough for him. Like I care, you know?_

_Seriously, like, don't waste your time._

"I'm just sorry I let this go on for so long."

" _Please_..." I sobbed. "Don't..."

"Goodbye," Harry bid me simply, as though it was just so _easy_ for him to do so.

Meanwhile, I wasn't entirely sure if I'd _ever_ fully recover, from the way he had shattered my heart that day.

I froze up when I suddenly felt his, once loving, hand cradling the back of my head before his, once comforting, lips were pressing a soft kiss to my forehead.

Then, I swear, I _blinked_ and Harry was gone.

"Harry..." I breathed into the empty expanse of the forest, and I found myself desperately glancing around, in search of any sign of his presence, "Harry," but none ever came. "Harry?!"

It was completely dark among the trees, and the frogs and crickets were alight with their various sounds all around me, by the time I had finally forced myself to accept the fact that _this was really happening_ and _Harry had actually left me._

When I finally moved to return home, I stumbled over the roots of a tree and instead of pushing myself back up onto my feet, I stayed lying there on the forest floor, for what felt like an eternity, as I let myself wallow in the depths of my despair.

Harry had actually left me.


	4. three

"Mark," I could hear Jacob's voice calling my father's name, as I was being carried back to our house, late in the night. 

Whoever had been carrying me, was warm and strong, and after accidentally falling asleep within the cold, damp forest, I was incredibly grateful that someone had been looking out for me, as I clearly wasn't in the best state of mind.

"He's alright," the unfamiliar voice of a man sounded from just above my head.

"I got him," Mark reached to easily lift me from the man's arms, and I tiredly hooked mine around his neck, to help support my weight. "Thank you, Sam," he told the man, and I couldn't help but feel remorseful, when he turned to bring me inside and I took note of the sizable group of men standing together in our front yard, watching me with concerned features.

Mark must've arranged a search party to look for me.

**\---**

_Dear Alice,_

_You've disappeared, like everything else._

_But who else can I talk to?_

_I'm lost, Alice._

_When you left... and he left... you took everything with you._

_But the absence of him is everywhere I look._

_It's like a huge hole has been punched through my chest._

_But in a way, I'm glad. The pain is my only reminder that he was real... that you all were._

**[Mail Delivery Failure]**

**[Failure Notice: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender]**

**\---**

"Alright. That's it," Mark suddenly stopped me, on my way into the house, after school one day.

"What?" I asked.

"You're going to Jacksonville," he told me in response, "to live with your mother."

"I'm not leaving Forks," I shook my head.

"Lou..." he looked me in the eye with an apologetic look before saying, "he's not coming back."

My lips absentmindedly parted at that, but even so, I replied, "I know," because I had been well aware of the fact that no matter how long I waited here, Harry was never coming back.

_This is the last time you'll ever see me._

It had been months since I'd seen him, and with the way he, and his entire family, ceased any and all communications with me, eventually I took it as a sign to stop trying.

"It's just not normal... this behavior," he hummed, in reference to how... _gracefully_... I'd been handling the break-up, and I honestly agreed.

Every day, I struggled to battle the deep depression I felt, and it showed through the way I often woke up in the middle of the night, screaming and crying, due to the painfully vivid nightmares that had been plaguing me as of late.

"Quite frankly, it's scaring the hell out of me _and_ your mother... Lou, I don't want you to leave," Mark shook his head then. "I don't, but... just go. Go to Jacksonville. Make some new friends."

"I like my old friends."

"Well, you never see 'em anymore..."

"I do..." I nodded, despite the fact that I really hadn't been spending very much time with them over the last few weeks, but I was hopeful that once I explained the situation, they would be understanding of my absence. "I'm gonna go shopping tomorrow with Perrie," I told him of my plans.

"You hate shopping," Mark offered an amused expression.

"I--" I sighed softly. "I need a night out."

"Alright," he nodded in agreement with that idea. "A night out. _Shopping_ ," he offered a teasing chuckle. "I like it. Go buy some stuff."

**\---**

"I don't know why you wanna sit through all those zombies eating people and no hot guys kissing anybody," Perrie grumbled, when we left the movie theater together, that night. 

She began to ramble then, "it's gross... and why are there that many zombie movies, anyway? 'Cause if it's supposed to, like, draw a parallel about _leprosy_? My cousin had leprosy, and it's not _funny_ , you know... and, like, is it supposed to be a metaphor for _consumerism_? 'Cause don't be so pleased with your own self-referential cleverness, you know? Like some people like to shop. Not _all_ people, apparently," she glanced over at me with a teasing half-smile. "Although, I was surprised you even called, at all. Like, your depression thing, I get it. I'm totally, totally worried... but after a while, it's like, you're _still_ bumming? And I'm going through stuff, too. You know? Like Liam deciding he just wants to be friends? It's hard--"

"What's up?!" we were both suddenly distracted by a group of bikers, chatting amongst themselves near their bikes, just outside of a dive bar. "Want a ride?!" they called to us.

 _Keep walking_ , I could hear Harry's voice in my head, warning me away from them, and I couldn't stand it. _This is dangerous._

A part of me wanted to march over to the bar, hop on one of those motorcycles, and just ride away... from _everything_ , just to spite Harry and his hold on me.

"Come here, for a sec!" one of them called to us again.

"Dude, come on," Perrie nudged my arm then, both pulling me out of my distracting thoughts and encouraging me to walk away.

"I think I know those guys," I nodded my head toward the group of bikers, despite the fact that I'd never seen any of them in my life, and she glanced over at them for a moment.

"We got beer! We got bikes!" they offered, holding up a six-pack as proof.

"Well, they seem _great_ ," Perrie gave me a pursed-lipped smile. "Can we go?"

"I'm just gonna see something..." I thought aloud, and then I found myself bravely moving closer to the group of bikers.

"Alright, we got a taker," one of them smirked as I approached, but I froze suddenly when Harry's voice echoed in my head once more.

_Turn around._

When I finally came face-to-face with the group, I glanced up at one of them, a middle-aged blonde man with a beer gut, and told him, "I'm sorry... I thought you were somebody else."

"No, that's cool," he shrugged as he casually climbed onto his bike. "I'll be whoever you want me to be, honey. So, what do you say?"

 _You promised me, nothing reckless,_ Harry's voice in my brain wouldn't seem to leave me alone, and the next thing I knew, as I glanced up at the biker once more, I swear, I could see Harry's face, plain as day.

Then, I was slinging my leg over the bike, and sinking into the seat behind its owner, in an instant.

Harry promised it would be as if he never existed.

He lied.

**\---**

"Hey, um, _what the hell is wrong with you_?" Perrie furrowed her brows at me incredulously, after I'd finally returned from the ride. "Just curious."

"I thought that I saw something."

"You-- _Oh_ ," she replied, as though sarcastically agreeing with the logic behind it. "You're _insane_ , actually... or _suicidal_. Homeboy could've been a psycho," she gestured flippantly toward the bikers while we walked away. "I was about to end up in an FBI interview room, like some lame TV show."

"God, that was _such_ _a rush_..." I couldn't help but honestly voice my thoughts aloud, as I was almost dumbfounded by the amount of adrenaline that was coursing through my veins, just from the quick ride.

"Awesome," she pursed her lips. "So, you're an _adrenaline junkie_ , now? That's cool. You can go _bungee jumping_. You don't _get on the back of some random loser's motorcycle_. Crazy."

**\---**

_Dear Alice,_

_I saw him._

_Maybe I'm crazy, now. I guess that's okay._

_If a rush of danger is what it takes to see him, then that's what I'll find._

**[Mail Delivery Failure]**

**[Failure Notice: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender]**


	5. four

"Louis!"

Jacob Black resembled an excited puppy while he jogged across his front lawn to greet me, with a beaming smile and characteristically kind brown eyes, near my truck in the driveway. 

"Where the hell have you been, loco?" he teased me, and as he wrapped his arms around my waist in order to pick me up and spin me in a quick circle, I giggled happily for the first time in what felt like forever.

Jacob was my first real friend, and the only one who ever dared to stick it out and endure my antics, and for that, I loved him dearly.

I wanted to express that to him with a gift.

"I uh... brought you something," I returned the smile as I gestured toward the truck with my thumb. "It's a little crazy," I chuckled softly and moved to drop the tailgate, in order to reveal what I'd hidden beneath one of my father's tarps.

"Wow," Jacob said flatly, in response to the pair of dirt bikes I'd gotten, for us to fix up and ride someday. "Scrap metal. You shouldn't have," he smirked.

"I saved it from the junkyard," I explained. "I think they'll probably cost more to _fix_ than they're _worth_... but then I thought that if I had a _mechanic friend_ to help me out, then--"

"Ah," he hummed understandingly, " _me_ being the mechanic friend?"

"That's right."

"Since when are you into motorcycles?"

"Since now," I shrugged with a slight flush to my cheeks, as I was sure he found the thought, of me as a biker, to be quite amusing. "I get it if you think that this is really stupid and reckless..." I offered a half-smile then, suddenly reminded of the way Harry had always tried to protect me from anything that could possibly bode even the _slightest_ bit of danger.

"Yeah, I mean, it's _completely_ stupid and reckless," Jacob replied with a straight face, which caused me to purse my lips, before he continued with another bright smile, "when do we start?"

"Uh..." I couldn't find any words at first, as I had become quite accustomed to being warned against doing anything _stupid and reckless_ , like this. "Now...? Please?" I giggled hopefully.

"Alright," he momentarily bit into his bottom lip before he moved to bring one of the bikes down from the truck bed.

"Oh, hey, be careful," I told him. "Those things are actually _really_ heavy, so--" I gaped when I watched him lift it up and set it down on the ground with ease, as though it were a mountain bike.

"Jake, you're _buff_ ," I said in astonishment. "How did that happen? You're, like, 16. I don't get it."

"Mhm," he hummed in amusement. "Age is just a number, baby. What are _you_ , like, 40 now?" he teased, and I knew it was light-hearted, so I let it go as he walked the bike toward his garage.

"It feels like that, sometimes."

**\---**

"That song's good," Jacob thought aloud, after I'd turned off the radio in his garage, a few days later.

I'd finally grown tired of listening to all of the corny love songs that played over the station. I'd never really given much thought to just howmany songs there were about love, until then.

"You don't like it?" he asked me curiously, from where he was sitting on the floor as he worked on one of the bikes.

"Um..." I thought it over, on my way back over to him. "I don't really like music anymore, kind of..."

"Okay," he said simply. "No more music."

"So, I was thinking, if we're gonna be doing this every day, and hopefully we will, we have to fit some homework in there somewhere. I don't want Billy thinking that I'm a bad influence on you."

" _You_ influence _me_?" he raised a brow at me. "Please," he chuckled.

"Are you--?" I smirked. "I'm older than you, so that makes _me_ the influence-er, and _you_ the influence-ee," I shook my head.

"No, no, no," he countered, "my size and knowledge base, actually makes _me_ older than _you_ because of your general paleness and lack of know-how."

"I convinced you to build _two-wheeled death machines_ with me," I laughed at that. "Don't you think that makes you kind of young and naïve?"

"Okay," Jacob gave in. "So, where do we stand?"

"I'm 35, and you might be, like... 32."

"Come on," he whined before there was a knock on the garage door.

"Yo, Jake, you in there?" someone called from the other side of it, and I moved to grab my bag.

"It's okay. It's just my boys," Jacob explained, and I nodded understandingly.

"Hey, Jake," one of them greeted when they walked in.

"Hey," Jacob stood from the floor. "Guys, this is Louis. Louis, that's Quil and Embry," he introduced us.

"Hi," I offered a timid wave. I never was all that great with new people.

"I'm Quil Ateara," the short-haired one explained. "So, the bike building story is true."

"Oh, yeah, I taught him everything he knows," I lied smoothly.

"What about the part where you're his boyfriend?" Quil smirked at Jacob then, causing my lips to part in wonder.

"Uh... we're friends, you know," I told them then, earning laughs from both of them.

"Burn," Embry told Jacob.

" _Actually_ ," Jacob responded flatly, "remember, I said, he's a boy _and_ a friend."

"Embry, do you remember him making that distinction?" Quil raised a brow at their friend.

"Nope," he shrugged.

"So, you guys have girlfriends?" I asked them. "That's awesome."

It was Jacob's turn to laugh then. "Yeah, right. Quil's actually taking his _cousin_ to prom."

"Yeah, that's still a riot," Quil rolled his eyes as Embry laughed again at his side. "You want funny, Black? I'll give you funny."

They began to play-fight then, wrestling each other into headlocks, only to break free and grapple each other again.

"I got 5 bucks on Quil," Embry said, after he joined me near the bikes.

"You're on," I shook my head at the wrestling boys with a fond smile.

**\---**

_Dear Alice,_

_I wish I had your real address._

_I wish I could tell you about Jake. He makes me feel better._

_I mean, he makes me feel alive._

_The hole in my chest? Well, when I'm with Jake, it's like it's almost healed... for a while._

_But even Jake can't keep the dreams away._

**[Mail Delivery Failure]**

**[Failure Notice: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender]**

**\---**

"So, Quil keeps asking to come over," Jacob told me, the day we finished rebuilding the bikes. "I think he likes you a little too much."

"Well, I'm really not into the whole male cougar thing, you know?" I joked.

"What's up with you and age?" he asked me curiously. "I mean, how old was that Styles guy, anyway?"

I felt a bit rude for it, but I couldn't bring myself to talk about Harry with him then, or with _anybody_ , for that matter.

**\---**

"Hey, hey," I suddenly stirred awake when I heard my father's voice in my ear as I slept. "It's okay," he assured me with concern in his tired gaze, "you're okay."

I sat up and glanced around, to find that it was still dark outside, and quickly discerned that he had shaken me from another nightmare.

"I thought this thing was starting to work, but I guess not," he offered a sad half-smile as he gestured toward the dreamcatcher Jacob had given me, for my birthday. 

It had been hanging up above my headboard ever since.

"Can I ask you something?" he hummed curiously while he reached out to brush my messy fringe out of my eyes. "Hanging out with Jacob... that seems to take your mind off things a bit, doesn't it?"

I nodded honestly.

"You know, sometimes..." he began, and he pursed his lips for a moment, as though he was worried he would offend me with whatever he said next. "You gotta learn to love what's good for you. You know what I mean? Of course, what do I know? I'm just a terminal bachelor... famous ladies' man."

I offered a weak smile at that, my brain still fogged with sleep, and he was quick to realize it.

"Okay," he cupped my face with his hand for a moment, which helped to calm me down, before I moved to lie back against the sheets again. "I'm gonna go to bed," he said, and then softly, "I love you."

**\---**

"If I told you I couldn't have fixed these bikes, what would you have said?" Jacob prompted as I drove us, and the bikes, down to a trail for us to ride them down.

"Are you doubting your mad skills?" I glanced over at him for a moment before focusing back on the road.

"No," he shook his head then. "Definitely not. I mean, they'll run fine. It's just, uh... maybe if I was smart, I would've dragged out the rebuild a bit..." he said uncharacteristically sheepishly.

"If you told me you couldn't fix these bikes, I would say that that's really too bad, but that we're just gonna have to find something else to do," I told him honestly.

That managed to make him smile again, so I silently accepted the small victory before I noticed a group of four shirtless guys, standing on the cliff above the water, up ahead.

"Is that Sam Uley?" I raised a brow in recognition as I pointed them out to Jacob.

"Yeah," he replied simply. "Him and his _cult_."

I gaped, and immediately pulled over, when I watched three of them push the fourth over the edge of the cliff, sending him falling to the water below.

"Oh, my God. Did you see that?" I quickly hopped out and rushed to the railing at the edge of the road.

I heard Jacob chuckling as he joined me. "They're not really fighting, Louis," he explained as we watched another dive in willingly. "They're cliff diving. Scary as hell, but a total rush."

"A rush?" I hummed in interest.

"Most of us jump from lower down," Jacob shook his head, presumably at the thought of jumping from the top of the cliff, as they were. "We leave the showing off to Sam and his disciples."

"You have some kind of beef with him or something?" I asked curiously as we made our way back over to the truck.

"I dunno," he shrugged. "They just think they run this place," he crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance. "Embry used to call 'em hall monitors on steroids... now look at him," he shook his head bitterly.

"That's Embry?" my brows raised while we watched the third guy jump.

"Yeah."

"What happened to him?"

"He missed some school. Now, all of a sudden, he started following Sam around, like a little puppy. Same thing happened with Paul and Jared," he sighed. "Sam keeps giving me this _look_...like he's _waiting for me_ or something," he shrugged once more. "It's kind of starting to freak me out."

"Well, you should just avoid him," I shook my head in concern, and Sam was the last to jump from the cliff, joining the others in the calm ocean below.

"I try."


	6. five

"Okay," I took a deep breath as I stepped over the bike and settled against the seat.

"You look scared," Jacob smirked from where he stood before me.

"I'm not," I shook my head at that, despite that feeling of adrenaline beginning to creep up my spine, and I reached for the handles.

"Alright," he let me win that time around. "Brake?" he quizzed me.

"That one," I hummed quietly, when his hands came to rest over my own, and I instinctively squeezed the brake.

"Good," Jacob smiled and he continued to quiz me on the clutch and the gas as well, before I started the bike, and he asked me, "ready?" I nodded, so he told me to, " _slowly_ release the clutch."

_Louis._

I gasped, upon hearing the ever intrusive sound of Harry's voice in my head.

_Stop._

"You alright?" Jacob tilted his head slightly in concern, and I nodded.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go now," I pulled onto the straight, gravel road we drove down before speeding ahead, all for the chance of hearing Harry's voice, or maybe even seeing his face, just one more time.

Fortunately, or maybe _not_ so fortunately, I saw him again.

Harry stood before me, a full-bodied apparition in the road, and I was too distracted by it to realize how fast I had actually been going, by then.

"Whoa--" I swallowed anxiously as the front tire, along with the handlebars, began to wobble from side to side, due to the speed.

"Hit the brake!" I heard Jacob call from behind me, and I was quick to do so, only maybe a little _too_ quick, as I was thrown a good yard ahead of the bike and proceeded to roll straight into a boulder.

Jacob was at my side as quickly as he could manage, after hopping on the other bike and skillfully speeding over.

"I wanna go again," I said when I met his gaze.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he asked me incredulously.

"I--" I tried to stand, but he reached for my hand in order to stop me.

"No. Forget it. No more bikes," he told me sternly, before he glanced up at the top of my head, and his features softened. "Man, your head..."

I gave a confused look, but I reached up to feel for whatever it was that he was talking about, and I winced as I felt a twinge of pain in doing so. "Ow..."

"Yeah..."

"Oh, my God," my eyes widened when I realized there was blood on my hand. "I'm sorry..."

"What, you're apologizing for _bleeding_?" Jacob raised a brow at that.

"Yeah... I guess I am," I gave a self-deprecating head shake.

"Well, it's just blood, Louis," he told me softly. "No big deal," he shrugged.

If he only knew.

Then he was reaching for the hem of his shirt and effortlessly peeling it from his torso, and I couldn't help but gulp at the sight, before he held the fabric up to my head in order to dab the blood away.

"What're you staring at?" Jacob hummed curiously, and I blushed profusely, as I had so easily been caught checking him out.

"You're sort of beautiful..." I admitted to him then.

Jacob just smiled in return. "How hard did you hit your head?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, shaking the thoughts of him from my head, as he chuckled quietly.

"Let's go," he said, and then he reached for my hands in order to help me to my feet.

**\---**

"I did see something in the woods," I heard Jade trying to convince the others of something from their table in the cafeteria at school.

"Totally, baby. I believe you," Niall told her.

"No, he doesn't," Perrie shook her head at him. "He's just trying to get lucky."

"No, okay? It was jet black and _huge_ ," Jade added. "On all fours, it was still taller than a person... a bear, maybe?"

"Or an _alien_ ," Liam chimed in with a laugh. "You're lucky you didn't get probed."

"You know, you're not the only one," I gave an awkward, pursed-lipped smile as I joined them. "My dad's been getting reports at the station. Like, _five_ hikers have been killed by some bear, but they can't find the bear."

"Hm," Niall hummed in thought. "Last time you clowns doubt my girlfriend," he teased Liam and Perrie.

Liam just shook his head at that, before turning toward me and asking, "so? I mean, uh... Louis' back?"

I offered him a warm smile and replied, "yeah, I guess so."

"Alright, that's--Well, welcome," he beamed upon hearing that. "So, listen... now that you're talking and... _eating_ again, which, you know, you've got to get that protein in there..." he playfully pinched my side, "I was just wondering if you wanted to go see a movie with me."

"Yeah, sure," I nodded in response. "Yeah, I do."

"Cool," his smile widened. "Let's see, we could check out um... _Love Spelled Backwards Is Love_ ," he suggested, to which I pursed my lips. "It's a dumb title, but it's a romantic comedy."

"No," I shook my head. "No romance. How about _Face Punch_. You heard of that?"

"I mean, that's an action movie..."

"Yeah, that's perfect," I gave a brief laugh. "Guns, adrenaline... that's my thing."

"Okay," he shrugged.

"We should get a bunch of people to go," I thought aloud, before glancing around the table at our friends. "Do you guys want to go see _Face Punch_?" I invited them.

" _Face Punch_!" Niall cheered. "Liam, hey, we were supposed to watch that."

"Movie night with Louis..." Perrie cheered weakly, and I honestly couldn't even fault her for it.

**\---**

"Perrie bailed, and Jade got the stomach flu, so Niall's taking care of her," I announced, as I joined Jacob and Liam, outside of the theater. "It's just us three."

"Great!" Jacob smiled.

"Great," Liam sighed quietly and I pursed my lips before leading them inside.

Then about halfway through the movie, Liam suddenly turned to me. "I'm gonna throw up," he said before turning to rush out of the auditorium.

I glanced back at Jacob, who rolled his eyes, before we both moved to follow him out.

"What a marshmallow," Jacob shook his head, while we stood just outside of the men's room and listened to Liam retch from the inside. "You should hold out for someone with a stronger stomach. Someone who _laughs_ at the gore that makes weaker men _vomit_."

"Yeah. I'll keep my eye open for that," I gave a short laugh before leading him away from the restrooms. "I feel bad... he's probably got that flu that's--" I tensed up when I felt his warm fingers lacing with mine. 

Then, I panicked, and quickly let go of his hand.

"What?" Jacob asked softly. "I can't hold your hand?"

"No, of course you can," I shook my head at that. "I just think it means, you know... something a little _different_ to you. So..."

"Okay, well, tell me something," he requested. "You like me, right?"

I hesitantly nodded, as I wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this.

"And you think I'm sort of beautiful?" he smirked, which caused my face to heat up with a flush of red.

"Jacob, _please_ , don't do this..." I asked him quietly, before I moved to sit at the bottom of the staircase, leading up to the projection booth.

"Why?" he joined me near the steps.

"Because you're about to ruin everything," I shook my head, "and... I need you."

"Well, I've got loads of time," Jacob told me. "I'm not gonna give up."

"I don't want you to," I offered a weak half-smile at that, "but it's just 'cause I don't want you to go anywhere... and that's _really_ selfish. You know, I'm not like a car that you can fix up. I'm never gonna run right... so, I should be fair to you."

Jacob was silent for a moment, and his expression was somewhat unreadable, until he suddenly asked me, "it's because of _him_ , right?"

It wasn't very difficult to discern that he was talking about Harry.

Jacob took a seat beside me when I couldn't meet his gaze any longer.

"Look," he began gently, "I know what he did to you... but, Lou, I would never... _ever_ do that. I won't _ever_ hurt you. I promise... I won't let you down."

I felt tears welling up in my eyes when I looked at him then.

"You can count on me," he promised me, and his eyes held sincerity in them as he did so.

I nodded in order to show that I trusted him, and I pursed my lips in an attempt to keep from crying any harder, before I allowed myself to rest my head upon his broad shoulder.

"Well..." Liam's voice sounded as he approached, which caused the two of us to immediately break apart, while I quickly wiped away my tears. "I need to go home," he told us, and when I looked up at him, his clammy appearance definitely raised some concern.

Jacob gave him a knowing look, which made Liam roll his eyes.

"I was feeling sick before the movie, okay?" he defended himself, even if he probably already knew we wouldn't quite believe him.

Jacob scoffed at that, to which Liam's brows furrowed.

"What is your problem?" Liam shook his head at him.

"Right now? _You're_ my problem," Jacob's jaw set in annoyance. "Feelin' sick? Maybe you need to go to the hospital." He stood from the stairs then, and he growled, "you want me to put you in the hospital?"

Liam backed away from us, with wide eyes, and I was quick to reach for Jacob's bicep in order to hold him back.

"Jake, Jake... the movie's over," I shook my head in confusion at his sudden outburst. "What are you doing?" 

I slid my hands down to hold onto his, in an attempt to calm him down, when my brows furrowed at the feeling of intense heat that radiated from his flesh. 

"You're _really_ hot... like, you feel like you have a fever. Are you okay?" I asked him in concern.

"I don't know what's happening..." Jacob looked to the floor, and I could sense his inner turmoil, long before he abruptly announced, "I gotta go," and promptly left the theater.

Liam just scoffed at that, before glancing over at me to say, "that dude is _weird_."


	7. six

"Hey, Jake," I greeted his voicemail, the next day, when he didn't answer his phone. "Uh, your dad says you have Mono... he won't let me visit, but would you call me?"

Then later in the evening, when he still hadn't hit me back, I called again, only to be met with his voicemail greeting once more. "Hey, it's me again," I said after the tone. "I just--I'm sorry about what I said at the movie theater... but I just wanted to hear your voice, so... no pressure..."

**\---**

"Okay," Mark exhaled into the empty expanse of the living room, the following morning. "We should be back around 3:00."

"Jacob, _please_... call me," I hung up the phone and stressfully wiped at my face with my hands, when my dad had joined me in the kitchen, all dressed up and ready to go fishing with his buddy, Hal.

"Hey," he offered a sympathetic half-smile. "Look, I don't have to go fishing today."

"Yes, you do," Hal teased him.

"Yeah, you do," I encouraged him. "Go. What are you talking about?" I asked rhetorically. "Just be careful."

"Always am," Mark promised before he moved to grab his gear.

"Those bears won't get the drop on me, Louis," Hal assured me. "My kung fu is strong."

I shook my head with a knowing chuckle at that, but as soon as they were gone, I was left to my thoughts, which seemed to mostly consist of Jacob Black as of late. So, after grabbing my keys and locking up the house behind me, I left to pay Jake a visit, despite the rain that had been pouring all morning.

It would take a lot more than some rainfall, and a little Mononucleosis, to keep me from seeing my best friend.

However, when I pulled up to his house to find a shirtless guy, with short, black hair, pacing the yard out front, I raised a brow in suspicion. 

I hadn't expected to see Sam Uley, or his _cult_ , as Jake had put it, but nevertheless, I stepped out of my truck and approached him.

"Hey!" I called out, but when the guy turned and I realized that he had actually been _Jacob_ all along, I felt even more confused. "You cut your hair off?" I asked him, just before I took note of the massive, circular, tribal design of ink that was now embedded in the skin of his deltoid, " _and_ got a tattoo?"

"Lou--"

"I thought you were too sick to come outside..." I gave a curt laugh, "or pick up the phone when I call...?"

"Go away," he told me, but his features remained soft as though he felt remorseful, for some reason.

"What?"

"Go away," he repeated simply, which caused me to frown.

"What happened to you? What's--" I tried to figure it out, but he suddenly turned away from me then, so I reached for his arm in order to turn him back around. "Hey, what happened? Did Sam get to you? Is _that_ what's happening?"

"Sam's trying to _help_ me. Don't blame him," Jacob shook his head at that, quite contradictorily, considering the way he had told me he felt about Sam, just a few days beforehand. "But if you want somebody to blame, how about those _filthy bloodsuckers_ you love; The Styles?"

"I don't know what you're talking about--"

"No, you know _exactly_ what I'm talking about," Jacob snapped at me, and I really couldn't stand his attitude in that moment. I'd never seen him behave in such a way as this before. "You've been lying to everyone. _Mark_ ," he listed an example before he shook his head again, "but you can't lie to me. Not anymore, Louis."

"Jacob!" we could suddenly hear Sam's voice calling him, from somewhere behind the house.

"Look, Louis..." Jacob began when he looked me in the eye once more. "We can't be friends anymore," he told me, and I felt my stomach flip upon hearing that from him, just as it had when Harry left me.

I couldn't bare to see Jake leave me, too.

"Look, Jake, I know that I've been hurting you," I shook my head self-deprecatingly, despite the fact that it wasn't entirely my fault that I couldn't reciprocate the way he felt for me. "It's killing me. It _kills_ me," I confessed sincerely because a part of me really wished that I _did_ have those sort of feelings for Jacob, so I wouldn't feel so lost now that I didn't have Harry, which honestly just made the rest of me feel quite selfish in turn. "I just--Maybe give me some time--?"

"Don't," he shook his head at that, though his eyes still seemed to carry some shred of remorse. "It's not _you_ ," he said, and I wanted to roll my eyes, but I refrained.

" _It's not you, it's me,_ right?" I narrowed my eyes at him. " _Really_?"

"It's _true_ ," he countered. "It _is_ me. I'm... I'm not... _good._ I used to be a good kid, but... not anymore," he said. "This doesn't even matter. Alright? This is over."

"You can't break up with me," I replied, and I shook my head because of how that sounded. "I mean--I mean, you're my _best friend_ ," I pleaded. "You _promised_ me."

"I know," Jacob nodded. "I promised I wouldn't hurt you, Lou... and this is me keeping that promise. Go home and _don't come back_ , or you're gonna get hurt."

**\---**

_Dear Alice,_

_Things are bad again._

_Without Jake, I just... can't stand it._

_I don't see Harry anymore._

_Will it really feel like he never existed?_

_I will find the place where I can see him again._

**[Mail Delivery Failure]**

**[Failure Notice: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender]**

**\---**

"Louis...?"

"Zayn..." my lips parted, out of both surprise and the slightest bit of fear, when I spotted a familiar face in the trees out by the Styles' old place, that same afternoon.

"I didn't expect to find _you_ here," he admitted. "I went to visit the Styles, but the house is empty," he raised his arms, as though he silently wondered what their reasoning could've been for leaving Forks. "I'm surprised they left _you_ behind. Weren't you sort of a... _pet_ of theirs?"

I cringed at the word he'd used, but I decided it was best to keep a level head around the red-eyed vampire. "Yeah," I nodded simply. "You could say that..."

"Do the Styles visit often?" he asked me curiously.

_Lie._

Harry's stern voice in my mind came as a warning, but I inhaled the feeling of comfort that it brought me, like a breath of fresh air.

"Yeah, absolutely," I nodded in response. "All the time."

_Lie better._

"I'll tell them that you stopped by," I added, "but I probably shouldn't tell Harry, 'cause he's pretty protective."

"But he's far away, isn't he?" Zayn asked then.

"Why are _you_ here?" I countered instead of answering.

"I came as a... _favor_ to Victoria," he told me hesitantly, but I could tell that he was being honest with me. Why would he have mentioned her, otherwise? "She asked me to see if you were still under the protection of the Styles... Victoria feels it's only fair to kill Harry's mate, given _he_ killed _hers_. An eye for an eye."

_Threaten him._

"Harry would know who did it," I shook my head and stood my ground, despite my nervously thrumming heart, "and he'd come after you."

"I don't think he will," Zayn offered a weak half-smile. "After all, how much could you mean to him if he left you here, unprotected?" My jaw set tight and he sighed then. "Victoria won't be happy about my killing you, but I can't help myself..." he swallowed thickly. "You are _so_ mouth-watering."

My lips parted at that and I begged, "p-please, don't. I mean, y-you _helped_ us--"

Zayn was standing before me in an instant, gently cupping my face with his ice-cold hands and shushing me, "no, no, no. Don't be afraid."

He seemed genuinely concerned that he was scaring me, but even so, I felt the tantalizing tingle of anxiety spreading throughout my entirety.

"I'm doing you a kindness. Victoria plans on killing you slowly... _painfully_... whereas I'll make it quick. I promise. You will feel _nothing_."

I had to admit that his offer sounded _much_ more promising than whatever I'd inevitably receive from Victoria, but regardless of how I felt about it, he would just as easily hunt me down and kill me if I chose to run. 

There was really no use in even trying.

So, as Zayn moved a hand to cradle the back of my head, I slowly tilted it back, presenting the flesh of my neck, and as I closed my eyes, accepting that this would be my fate, I uttered what I had assumed to be my last words, "Harry, I love you..."

Then, the sound of twigs snapping against the forest floor could be heard, which caused Zayn to pull away from me, with fear in his wide, scarlet eyes.

"I don't believe it..." he breathed, and I was quick to follow his gaze, toward whatever it was that could have possibly caused him to become so uncharacteristically timid.

Between the thick trunks of the trees all around us, several _massive_ wolves emerged, snarling at the sight of the vampire before me.

I could only assume that the largest of them all, with its pitch black fur and matching eyes of onyx, was the leader of their small pack; The alpha.

I had estimated that even the smallest of them had to have been _at least_ 6 feet tall, even on all fours as they all were, and I briefly wondered if these were the _huge bears_ Jade had claimed to see.

Then the alpha released a terrifying roar, similar to that of a lion, and Zayn was quick to turn on his heel and make a speedy run for it.

The pack chased him, of course, however, I found myself frozen out of fear, when one of them lagged behind; A tan-furred wolf, that was smaller than its alpha, but still considerably _massive_ , hesitantly approached me.

The wolf remained calm, unlike its snarling counterparts, and it momentarily seemed to sniff me, until we both heard a loud yelping noise, which caused it to sprint full-speed toward the rest of the pack.

Zayn had managed to knock the alpha away from him with his strength, but the wolves were relentless, and I quickly made a run for it, now that the pack had been distracted.

**\---**

"Dad! I saw them!" I rushed out, after I had run home to tell him what I'd just witnessed in the woods.

"What's the matter?" he asked from where he sat at the kitchen table, drinking a beer, as Hal cooked up the fish they'd caught earlier in the evening.

"In the woods," I clarified, "they're _not_ bears."

"What do you mean, _in the woods_?" Mark furrowed his brows at that. "Louis, what the hell were you doing out in the woods?"

"They're _wolves_ ," I continued, in order to disregard his question. "I mean--They're, like, _huge_ wolves."

"Are you sure about that, Louis?" Hal raised a brow at me then and I sighed quietly.

"Yeah! I _just_ saw them," I replied exasperatedly. "They were after something."

"Wolves?" Mark repeated the word, as though to be sure he had heard me correctly. "You saw 'em?"

I nodded quickly.

"Alright..." he sighed quietly, before he looked up at his friend. "Well, Hal, you feel like goin' hunting? Get some of your guys together?"

"Yeah, sure," Hal nodded, and he quickly retrieved his phone from his pocket. "I'll just, uh..." he flippantly gestured toward the front door, before he proceeded to move outside, in order to fulfill Mark's request.

But deep down, I knew that by now, those wolves would most likely be dead, and Zayn would've told Victoria that I'm out here, unprotected.

"I should go to the station," Mark thought aloud as he stood from his seat.

"Yeah, you should," I agreed. "You should go."

"Can you just--Stay in the house?" he asked me stressfully, and I had no choice but to nod in affirmation, even if I knew that being left home alone wasn't exactly the smartest thing for me to be doing in that moment.


	8. seven

Late in the night, as I lay in bed at home alone, a tapping noise against my window did nothing to help cease the anxious thoughts that had been racing around in my head.

So, I hesitantly stood and made my way over to the window, and having expected to see Victoria or maybe even Zayn standing in the yard below, I was a bit taken aback to find Jacob standing there instead.

"Louis!" he called to me, after I raised the glass in order to speak to him.

"You scared me," I sighed. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Back up," he said then. "I'm coming up."

I did as I was told then, and my brows raised in astonishment as I watched him easily parkour his way up to my window, using only the side of my house and the tree that stood tall beside it.

"Hey," he greeted me casually, after climbing into my room. "Look, I-I'm sorry..." he apologized as he moved toward me, but I was quick to gently press my fist against his warm, bare chest, in order to keep him from coming any closer.

"For what?" I asked, somewhat distractedly.

"I wish I could explain," Jacob shook his head, "but I _literally_ can't."

He began to pace then, but he paused for a moment when he spotted the dreamcatcher he'd given me for my birthday, that was still hanging above my headboard.

"Have you ever had a secret you couldn't tell anyone?" he asked me then. "One that wasn't _yours_ to share?"

My lips absentmindedly parted in response, but I chose to remain silent, and he turned to face me once more.

"Well, that's what it's like for me... but _worse_ ," he explained as he took a seat at the foot of my bed, and my brows furrowed in concern upon hearing that, before he continued. "You have no idea how tight I'm bound."

"I _hate_ this," I shook my head sadly when I moved closer to him in order to gently tilt his chin up. "I hate what they've done to you."

Jacob reached for my hand then, but upon doing so, he took note of the deep scar of James' venomous bite on my wrist, and he immediately stood up.

"I mean, the killer part is, _you already know_ ," Jacob spoke through gritted teeth before he took a deep breath in order to calm himself down. "Louis," he began, much softer this time around, "do you remember when we walked on the beach at La Push?"

"The story..." I nodded comprehensively, "about _The Cold Ones_?"

"I guess I understand why _that's_ the only part you remember," he said quietly, as though he was disappointed, and upon recalling the other half of the story he had told me that day at the beach, I was really starting to believe that _Jacob might've actually been a werewolf_.

"There's gotta be _something_ that you can do--"

"No," he said simply. "I'm in it, _for_ _life_."

"Well, maybe we should just get out of here for a while..." I suggested on a whim. "Just leave... you and me."

"You'd do that?" his features softened once more.

"I would do it for you."

"Well, it's not something I can just _run away_ _from_ , Lou... but, I _would_ run away with you... if I could," Jacob told me, seeming genuinely disheartened by the fact that he couldn't, before he glanced over at the window he originally came through. "I gotta go. They'll start wondering where I am."

"I--" I began, but my thoughts continued to race around in my head, and I couldn't find the words.

"Come here," Jacob said, just above a whisper, before he reached for my hands and pulled me into his warm embrace. "Please... try to remember..." he spoke into my hair, "it'd be so much easier if you knew."

"I'll try, but Jake--" I began, before he suddenly turned and moved to climb out of the window. "Jake, what are you doing?" I followed him, and I watched as he jumped from the second story of my house onto the grass below, without even sweating it.

**\---**

"Louis?" Billy Black raised a brow, when he answered his front door to find me, standing on his porch.

"I need to see him," I told him simply because I didn't think it was necessary for me to clarify who I was talking about, considering I'd been trying to see Jacob, for _weeks_ by that point.

"He's not in..." Billy replied, but with the way he couldn't seem to meet my gaze in that moment, I could easily tell that he was lying to me.

"Okay, I'm sorry," I shook my head at that as I moved past him in order to let myself into their house. "I _really_ need to see him."

"Louis..." Billy called my name weakly, when I finally reached Jacob's room and let myself inside, to find him sound asleep, upon the comfort of his bed.

However, when I craned my head, to get a good look outside of his bedroom window at a few approaching figures in the distance, my brows furrowed in annoyance when I instantly recognized them.

"What did you do?!" I asked furiously, after I'd rushed outside to confront them. "What did you do to him?!" I lashed out and I shoved Sam backward, but it didn't do much.

"Hey!" one of his buddies, Jared, barked at me.

" _Easy_ ," Sam growled at him, before focusing his attention back onto me.

"He didn't want this!" I shook my head at him.

"What did _we_ do?" another one of them, Paul, eyed me suspiciously. "What did _he_ do? What'd he tell you?"

"Both of you, calm down," Sam glared at Jared and Paul, who watched me with intense gazes.

"Nothing!" I answered his question exasperatedly. "He tells me _nothing_ because he's _scared of you_!"

This seemed to amuse them, as the pair of them began to laugh, which caused enough anger to boil up within me for me to bring my fist back and swing it into the side of Paul's face.

"Too late now," Embry smirked then, as Paul glared back at me and, quite literally, began to snarl.

"Louis, get back," Sam warned me, to which I cautiously backed away from them. "Paul, calm down! _Now_!"

Paul angrily shook his head at that, before he suddenly doubled over, and we all watched the shape of his body quickly morph, into that of a grey wolf, before our eyes.

My eyes widened fearfully at the sight, and I was quick to turn on my heel and make a run for it, before I instantly spotted Jacob, standing upon his porch.

"Louis!" his brown eyes went wide as well, once he realized what was happening, but the only thing I had really been focused on in that moment, was _getting the hell out of there_.

"Run!!!" I called to him, only for him to immediately sling himself over the railing and come sprinting toward me. "Jake, _run_!!!"

Then, in order to avoid roughly colliding with him, I instinctively dropped to the ground.

However, I was quick to whip back around, as he suddenly morphed, into the figure of the tan-furred canine I'd encountered the other day, before he bravely confronted Paul.

That day, my suspicions had finally been confirmed.

Jacob Black was a werewolf.

As they began to fight one another, biting and snarling and launching one another back and forth across the lawn, Sam turned to the others and told them to, "take Louis back to Emily's place."

Jared just shook his head in amusement, as Jacob and Paul wrestled each other into the woods just behind the house, and Sam quickly moved to console them.

"Guess the wolf's out of the bag," Embry hummed, before he reached out a helping hand, in order to pull me back onto my feet.

**\---**

_Dear Alice,_

_Is it possible that everything is true?_

_The fairy tales and horror stories?_

_Is it possible that there isn't anything sane, or normal, at all?_

**[Mail Delivery Failure]**

**[Failure Notice: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender]**


	9. eight

"Hey, I think we should go back and see if Jacob's okay..."

"I hope Paul sinks some teeth in him," Jared chuckled, as we approached the house they'd driven me to, in La Push. "Serves him right."

"No way," Embry scoffed at that. "Jacob's a natural. You see him phase on the fly? I got $5 that says Paul doesn't touch him."

Jared shook his head with another laugh, until they both turned to face me, where I stood, anxiously nibbling my lower lip, from beside my truck.

"Come on in, Louis," Embry smirked from the porch. "We won't bite."

"Speak for yourself," Jared joked, to which I sighed softly to myself, before making my way over to them.

"Oh, hey, about Emily, Sam's fiancé?" Embry began, once I had joined them on the porch. "Don't stare. It bugs Sam."

"Why would I stare...?" I asked curiously, but at the sound of a woman's voice suddenly chirping from inside, they immediately turned to join her, so I followed suit.

"Are you guys hungry?" she hummed from where she stood, facing away from us, at the kitchen counter. "Like I have to ask," she teased them, with a light-hearted giggle, when she turned to face them then.

That's when I took note of the three jagged lines of a scar that ran vertically along the left side of Emily's face, and I remembered that Embry had told me not to stare, so I honored his request and promptly averted my gaze.

"Who's this?" she raised a brow at the sight of me, as I was just sort of standing there in the threshold.

"Louis Tomlinson," Jared answered for me. "Who else?"

"Hm," Emily hummed in thought as she gave me a quick once over. "So, you're the vampire boy."

I pursed my lips at that, but light-heartedly replied, "so, you're the _wolf_ _girl_."

"Guess so," she smirked in response. "Well, I'm _engaged_ to one," she clarified, before she turned to bring a tray of muffins over to the table, and the boys instantly reached for one. "Save some for your brothers," Emily knowingly shook her head at them, before adding, "and Louis first." She turned to me then, and offered me a, "muffin?"

"Sure. Thanks," I nodded, and I moved to graciously accept it from her.

"Leave it to Jacob to find a way around Sam's gag order," Emily thought aloud in amazement.

"Oh, he didn't say anything to me," I assured them.

"That's a wolf thing," Embry explained to me then. "Alpha's orders get obeyed, whether we want them to or not. Oh, and check it out, we can hear each other's thoughts!" he said enthusiastically.

"Would you shut up?" Jared laughed at Embry. "These are trade secrets, damn it! This dude runs with vampires!" he flippantly gestured toward me.

"You can't _really_ run with vampires," I offered a playful smirk in response, "'cause they're fast."

"Yeah?" Jared offered me a matching smirk. "Well, _we're_ faster. Freaked out yet?"

"You're not the first monsters I've met," I shook my head teasingly at that.

"Jake's right," Sam's voice distracted us all, when he suddenly walked through the front door and told me, "you're good with weird."

He immediately made his way over to Emily, upon whose face he gave several endearing kisses, which elicited another adorable giggle from his fiancé. 

The sight of the two of them, being so soft and sweet with each other, tugged painfully at my heartstrings.

God, how I missed Harry.

Then, as if he were an angel sent to banish any painful thoughts from my mind, Jacob appeared in the doorway behind Paul, who had just walked inside with a beaming grin on his face.

"Sorry," Paul apologized to me then, before he took a seat at the table, but I just shrugged it off.

He had terrified me earlier, but I was the one who provoked him, and it was also pretty clear to see that he & Jacob had squashed their beef before coming over, so there were no hard feelings on my end.

Then, I looked up at Jacob once more, to find him nodding his head toward my truck, and I quickly moved to join him back outside.

**\---**

"So... you're a werewolf..." I began while I wandered the expanse of the beach with Jacob, just as we had when I had first moved back to Washington.

"Yeah, last time I checked," he answered casually. "A few lucky members of the tribe have the gene... a _bloodsucker_ moves into town, and the fever sets in."

"Mono," I hummed in amusement, upon remembering the excuse Billy had given me, as to why Jacob wasn't available.

"Yeah," Jacob gave a curt chuckle. "I wish."

Then, upon remembering all of the deaths in the woods I'd been hearing about around town, supposedly at the hands of some bear, I asked him, "well, can't you find a way to just... _stop_? I mean, it's wrong--"

"It's not a _lifestyle choice_ , Louis," Jacob moved to stand before me then, causing me to pause in my tracks. "I was _born_ this way. I can't help it," he shook his head at me incredulously. "You're such a hypocrite. What, I'm not the _right kind of monster_ for you?"

"It's not what you _are_. It's what you _do_. They never hurt anybody," I said, in defense of the Styles. "You've _killed_ _people_ , Jake," I reminded him.

"Louis, we're not killing anyone," Jacob said flatly, much to my confusion.

"Then, who is?"

"What we're trying to _protect_ you people from... the only thing we _do_ kill; Vampires."

"Well, Jake, you can't--"

"Don't worry," he waved his hand dismissively. "We can't touch your precious little Styles... unless they violate the treaty."

"I--That's not what I'm saying," I shook my head again. "You can't _kill_ vampires. They'll-- _They'll_ kill _you_."

"Really? We took out the leech with the nose ring easy enough," he said, in reference to Zayn, and my brows raised in surprise upon hearing that.

"Zayn?"

"And his red-headed girlfriend is next."

"Victoria's _here_?"

" _Was_ ," he corrected me. "We chased her, all the way to the Canadian border, the other night. She keeps coming back. We don't know what she's after."

"I do..." I gave a pursed-lipped smile, before telling him, " _me_."

**\---**

"Don't worry. We've got this place covered," Jacob assured me, while he walked me from my car to my front door, that night. Then, he draped a casual arm around my shoulders and told me, "she won't get near you or Mark."

"Look, you've got to be careful," I requested of him then. "She's _fast_... like, you don't know how fast she is."

"You know, your lack of confidence in us, is a _little_ insulting," he smiled, which earned a matching grin from me, before he said, "alright. I'd better go."

"You gotta go...?"

"Yeah," he nodded simply. "Got a vampire to kill."

**\---**

_Dear Alice,_

_I'm alright until I'm alone, and lately, that's all the time._

_Jacob's gone. He's hunting Victoria._

_Meanwhile, Mark is hunting Jacob, and you're gone... and so is Harry, and there's just nothing, now._

_But, I realize where I have to go, and what I have to do, to see him again._

**[Mail Delivery Failure]**

**[Failure Notice: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender]**

**\---**

As I stood atop the very cliff that Sam used in order to initiate new members of his pack, I bravely stared down at the raging ocean below, and it was then that I finally got what I wanted.

I finally heard Harry's voice again.

_Don't do this._

"You wanted me to be human..." I thought aloud as I unzipped my jacket and carelessly tossed it to the ground behind me. "Watch me."

_Please. For me._

"You won't stay with me any other way," I shook my head and moved to the edge once more, where the toes of my shoes caused a few pebbles to fall.

 _Louis, please,_ he pleaded with me, but it was too late, as I had already taken a literal leap of faith, into the depths below.

I smiled triumphantly once I resurfaced because the icy temperature of the water, alongside the rush of adrenaline that came with it, felt damn near _euphoric_. 

However, as I turned to look out upon the foggy horizon, I gaped as I was suddenly met with a massive wave. It forced me back beneath the water, where I hurriedly scrambled to resurface, only to be forced back under once more, by another crashing wave.

Then, beneath the water, my eyes widened with fear as I spotted a full head of red, curly hair, just a few yards before me.

Victoria.

I attempted to swim away as fast as I possibly could, before another wave forced me back against the jagged rocks of the cliffside, and the back of my head roughly collided with one of them.

Then, my vision became blurry--well, blurrier than it already was, within the murky water--as my body slowly, but surely, began to sink to the ocean floor.

I lost consciousness there, soon after.

**\---**

The first thing I heard when I came to, was Jacob's voice in my ears, telling me to, "breathe! Breathe! Come on, Louis, _breathe_!"

Then his hands were pressing down hard against the center of my chest, forcing my lungs to expel the seawater they had inhaled, and causing me to sputter in response.

"Louis..." Jacob gently brushed my soaking wet hair out of my face. "Louis, can you hear me?"

"Jake?" I croaked when I met his concerned gaze, to which he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come here," he cooed, and then he hooked an arm around my shoulders, in order to sit me upright. "What the hell were you thinking?" he shook his head at me, like a disappointed father would, and I didn't even bother to think of an excuse.

"I just wanted to see something," I said vaguely, but honestly, before Sam's voice could be heard, coming from just a few yards down the beach.

"Get him home!" he told Jacob, who frowned in response. "I'm gonna go help out over at Hal's place!"

"What happened at Hal's?"

"Hal Clearwater had a heart attack," Jacob explained, and I gaped. "Mark and my dad are over at his place, with his family."

"Is he okay?" I asked in concern.

"He's gone..." Jacob sadly informed me, before he was encouraging me back onto my feet. "Come on. I'll get you something dry and drive you home."

Then, on the drive back to my house, Jacob glanced over at me from the driver's seat, while I continued to shiver beneath the few towels he'd given me.

"108 degrees over here," he chimed in amusement, and as he focused his attention back onto the road, I immediately slid across the seat in order to press myself up against his side.

" _God_ ," I breathed a sigh of relief at the warmth he so easily provided me with. "My hands are freezing," I admitted, before I wrapped them around his brawny bicep, and I watched him smile at me fondly for a moment, through the rearview mirror. "It must be nice, never getting cold," I thought aloud.

"It's a wolf thing," he brushed it off.

"It's not," I shook my head at that, suddenly reminiscing of all of the times we had shared a casual cuddle in the past. "It's a Jacob thing," I told him. "You're just warm."

His demeanor had _always_ been that of a kind, gentle, and welcoming soul. Jacob was like the sunlight in that way, and his recent increase in body heat merely reflected that, now.

"You're like your own sun," I smiled back at him within the rearview, just as we pulled up alongside my house.

"This is better," he thought aloud, as he parked my truck out front and killed the engine, "now that you know about me."

"But...?" I prompted expectantly then, to which he turned to look at me.

"You saw what happened to Emily..." he began softly, before he explained to me that, "Sam got angry... lost it for a _split second_. Em was standing too close..."

I swallowed thickly, as I was disheartened by the story, and it became clear to me then, that Jacob was worried about potentially hurting me.

"He'll _never_ be able to take that back..." Jacob said. "What if I got mad at _you_?" I subconsciously pursed my lips at the sudden thought of Jacob actually hurting me, before he quietly sighed to himself. "Sometimes... I feel like I'm gonna disappear."

"Okay, not that you need me to tell you something like this... but I always will," I began, before assuring him that, "you're not gonna lose yourself. I wouldn't let that happen."

"How?" he looked at me then, with curiosity alight in his big, brown eyes.

"I'll tell you, all the time, how special you are," I nodded, and I watched him hesitate for a moment, before he was slowly leaning in toward me, and I was forced to back away from him the slightest bit.

Jacob's lips pursed, and his gaze fell to the floor because of my reaction, but I was quick to wrap my arms around his shoulders and hide my face in the crook of his neck instead.

"Thank you," I whispered to him then, "for everything."

He nodded with a ghost of a smile and after another moment, I turned to let myself out of the truck, but he quickly reached over to pull the door shut again.

"Wait," he said seriously. "There's a vampire."

"How do you know?" I asked curiously.

"I can _smell it_ ," he muttered out of disgust, before he started the truck, and told me, "I'm getting you out of here."

My brows furrowed in confusion, but my features immediately softened, when I glanced behind the truck to find a black Mercedes parked across the street from my house.

"That's Desmond's car..." I thought aloud, and Jacob was quick to crane his head, to get a better look at whatever I was talking about. "They're here," I breathed, before I moved to let myself out of the truck again.

"Louis, it's a _trick_! Stop!" Jacob called after me, and he slid across the seat, in order to follow me out of the passenger side. "You gotta come with me!"

He reached for my arm then, causing me to pause in my tracks and face him once more. 

"They won't hurt me," I shook my head.

"If a Styles is back here, this is _their_ territory," he said. "The treaty says, we can only defend on our own lands. I can't protect you here..."

"Okay. That's okay," I assured him sincerely, but I appreciated his concern all the same. "You don't have to."

Then, Jacob's jaw set tight, and he warned me, "you're about to cross a line," through gritted teeth.

"Then, don't draw one," I replied simply because I'd seen Desmond's car, which meant that he was in the general vicinity, at least, and I couldn't really bring myself to think about much else in that moment.

"Please?" I requested of Jacob, before I quickly turned on my heel, and I rushed into my house without another word.


	10. nine

" _Alice_?"

I had nearly jumped out of my skin, when I walked inside to find her standing in the hallway, with a look of concern etched into her features.

However, my eyes immediately welled with tears, when I helplessly moved to hug her.

"Louis," she breathed, and I was quick to pull away from her.

"Oh, my God! What are you--?" I shook my head, nearly speechless from the pleasant surprise of her presence. "I-I'm sorry, I just, I can't believe you're here. I-Is--?" I wanted to ask if Harry was with her, but she spoke up before I could.

"Would you like to explain to me how you're _alive_?!"

My smile faded then. "What?"

"I saw a vision of you," she told me. "You jumped off a _cliff_! Why in the hell would you try and _kill yourself_? I mean, what about _Mark_?" she scolded me, and she suddenly reminded me of my mother. "What about--?"

"I didn't try to kill myself," I shook my head at that. "I was cliff jumping... _recreationally_. I-It was fun..." I admitted sheepishly, and I felt bad that she had assumed the worst.

"I have never met anyone more prone to life-threatening idiocy," Alice said in astonishment, as we moved to sit together on the couch, in my living room.

"Does--?" I stuttered for a moment. "D-Did you tell him?"

"No," she shook her head. "He only calls in once every few months. He said he wants to be alone."

My gaze fell to my hands, that fiddled with the hem of my shirt, upon hearing that.

If he only knew how _I'd_ been feeling, for months on end.

"Louis, what is that God-awful wet dog smell?" her face scrunched up in disgust, and I felt my cheeks go red.

"Um..." I sighed softly, before confessing, "that's probably me... or it's--it's _Jacob_ ," I clarified.

"Jacob who?" she asked me curiously.

"Jacob's kind of a werewolf..."

Alice scoffed at that. "Louis, werewolves are _not_ good company to keep."

"Speak for yourself," Jacob said, from where he stood in the threshold of the living room, before he looked down at me. "I had to see you were safe," he explained his sudden reappearance, and Alice quickly stood from the couch, upon facing the sudden threat of a werewolf.

"I thought you couldn't protect me here?" I offered him a teasing half-smile.

"Guess I don't care," he shrugged simply.

"Well, _I'm_ not gonna hurt him," Alice assured him.

"No, you're just a harmless Styles," Jacob muttered sarcastically. "But, I'm talkin' about the _other_ bloodsucker, who tried to _kill Louis_ because of _you_."

"Victoria?" Alice looked over at me then.

"Yeah. Victoria's been around," I nodded.

"I didn't see her..." she shook her head in confusion. "I didn't see you get pulled out of the water, either." 

Alice turned to look at Jacob then. 

"I can't see past _you_ and your pack of _mutts_."

"Don't get me upset," Jacob warned her, so I moved to stand before him, in order to calm him down.

"Hey, stop," I placed my hands on his chest, in order to walk him a few steps backward, "stop, stop, stop."

"I'll give you a minute..." Alice told me on her way out of the living room.

"Hey," I called to her, and she turned to look at me once more. "You're not going anywhere... you're gonna come back, _right..._?"

"As soon as you put the dog out," Alice nodded, with a playful smile, before making her leave.

"Is he--?" Jacob began, but pursed his lips instead. "Are there others? How many Styles are here and how long are they staying?"

"No," I answered his initial question, as to whether or not Harry was here as well, "it's just Alice and she can stay as long as she'd like."

"Well, are the rest coming back?" 

He followed me into the kitchen when I walked away from him, as I didn't care to speak about the Styles with him any longer, if he was just going to act like _that_.

"No. Not that I know of," I muttered while I looked through the cabinets for something to eat. "Anything else?"

"That's it."

"Well, if that's all, then, you'd better go run back to Sam," I shook my head dismissively.

"I've done it again," Jacob thought aloud. "I keep breaking my promise..."

"We don't have to do this to each other," I said, after I had turned to face him once more.

"Yes, we do," he boldly approached me, and he brought his hand up to caress my face, before he briefly spoke to me in his native language, " _kwop kilawtley.._."

The rough translation; _Stay with me forever._

Then, Jacob leaned in to kiss me, as he had attempted to in the truck only moments ago, before the landline began to ring from where it hung on the wall, by the fridge.

Jake sighed audibly in annoyance, until he answered the phone with a chipper, "Tomlinson residence!" which earned a brief giggle from me. 

I couldn't hear what the person on the other end was saying, but whatever it was, Jacob didn't appear to be too thrilled about it, if the way his jaw immediately set was anything to go off of.

"He's not here right now," he told them. "He's arranging a funeral."

"Who was that?" I asked after he angrily hung the phone back up.

"Always in the way," he muttered, and with the way he began to growl, I had a feeling I already knew who it was.

"Who was that?" I pressed him further. "Jake, _who was that_?!"

"Louis, step back," Jacob warned me, but quite frankly, I didn't care if he suddenly lashed out and phased. 

I demanded to know who had called.

"Louis!" Alice sped over to the kitchen. "Louis, it's Harry!" she rushed out. "He thinks you're _dead_! Rosalie told him why I came here!"

I took a moment to process the news, before I glared at Jake exasperatedly. "Why would you--? Why didn't you let me speak to him?!"

"He didn't _ask for you_ ," Jake raised his voice the slightest bit.

"I don't care!!!" I shouted brokenly.

"Louis..." I felt Alice grab my arm, before she turned me to face her, and she held my face in her hands. "Louis! He's going to the Volturi! He wants to die, too..." her eyes welled with tears, just as mine widened with fear.

**\---**

"He _left you_ , Louis," Jacob seethed, when he followed us outside and Alice zipped ahead, in order to start Desmond's car. "He didn't _want you_ anymore, remember?"

"No, I'm not gonna let him kill himself out of guilt," I marched over to the car with shaking hands.

"What about your dad?"

"I'm 18. I'm legally free to go and I left a note," I muttered back before climbing into the car and slamming the passenger door shut behind me.

"Please, Louis," Jacob begged desperately, when he reached through the open driver's window and seized Alice's wrist, earning a brief hiss from her, before she could slip the key into the ignition. "Just stay here. For Mark..." he said, before honestly choking out, "or for _me_."

"I have to go," I told him sternly, no matter how much it broke my heart to see him so disappointed in me, and he let go of Alice.

"I'm _begging_ you," he shook his head, with tears in his eyes, " _please_..."

"Goodbye, Jacob..." I said quietly and with that, his features hardened once more, and he reluctantly walked away.

"Okay," Alice sighed once she was finally able to start the car and peel off down the road.


	11. ten

**[HARRY'S POV]**

"So, you've made up your minds...?"

"I'm afraid your particular gifts are too valuable to destroy," Aro, the leader of the Volturi, told me, before gesturing to the men at either side of him, Marcus & Caius, "but if you're unhappy with your lot, join us. We would be _delighted_ to utilize your skills. Won't you consider staying with us?"

"You know it will happen anyway," I muttered in response.

My skills, my life, my _immortality_ , were absolutely worthless to me.

Louis was dead.

I killed him.

So, I have to die.

"Not without cause," Marcus gave me a pointed look, but I didn't care to say anything more.

"Such a waste," I heard Aro sighing to himself, as I made my leave, and I couldn't even fault him for it.

He was right.

**\---**

**[LOUIS' POV]**

"I'm guessing you didn't rent this car?"

I held on tight to the door handle as Alice & I sped down the winding roads of the Italian countryside in a bright yellow Porsche.

"I figured you wouldn't be opposed to grand theft auto..." she thought aloud and I gave a brief chuckle in response.

"Not today," I nodded in affirmation, and I watched her for a moment as she suddenly appeared distracted. "What? What do you see?"

"They _refused_ him," Alice thought aloud, with a dumbfounded expression.

"So...?" I prompted expectantly.

"He's gonna make a scene," she told me. "He's gonna show himself to the humans..."

"No!" I immediately shook my head at that. "When?"

"He's gonna wait until noon, when the sun's at its highest," she explained.

" _God_ , Alice, you've _gotta_ hurry up," I whined helplessly, while I anxiously patted the dashboard with my shaking hands.

"There's Volterra," she pointed up ahead, toward the medieval mountaintop town, where this _Volturi_ supposedly resided.

Then, Alice reached into the backseat for her sunglasses and headscarf, and she quickly put them on before we began zipping through the claustrophobia-inducing streets of Volterra.

She honked the horn incessantly, when we came across a parade of Italians, all dressed in red cloaks.

"Why are they all in red?" I stressfully ran my fingers through my hair, and I was about ready to tear the strands of it from my scalp, but somehow I refrained.

"San Marco's Day festival," Alice explained. "They're commemorating the expulsion of vampires from the city. It's the perfect setting... the Volturi will never let him get far enough to reveal himself."

"We have _five minutes_ ," I began to hyperventilate as my eyes seemed to be glued to the clock in the dash.

"I know, Louis," Alice rushed out, when we pulled up to some sort of parking area, near the center of the city, and she was forced to stop, "just _breathe_..."

I tried my best to heed her advice, when I immediately stepped out of the car, but I turned back in confusion, when she stayed put behind the wheel.

"Alice!"

"Louis, you're the only one he can't see coming!" she shook her head sadly. "If I go, he'll read my thoughts, he'll think I'm lying, and he'll rush into it!"

"Where do I go?!"

"He'll be under the clock tower! _Go_!"

With that, I slammed the door shut and raced against the clock, and I carelessly pushed my way through the sea of red because I was a bit too preoccupied, with saving Harry's life, to worry about manners in that moment.

I sprinted, as fast as my legs could possibly carry me until I nearly fell, face first, into a fountain, whilst the Volterrians obliviously celebrated in the very heart of their city.

I managed to catch myself with my hands, on the edge of the fountain, just as I heard the near deafening chime of the clock tower.

I peered up at the face of it, where the longer of the two hands immediately came to rest over XII, signifying 12 o'clock, and I felt my heart sink to the floor.

Then, as my gaze fell below the clock, I almost couldn't believe my eyes, when I finally saw _him_.

Harry stood within the threshold of the tower, and his face held no sort of emotion, as he worked at undoing the buttons of his shirt.

Without a second thought, I hauled myself over the edge of the fountain, sprinted through the shallow water and leapt back out of it, once I'd reached the other side.

Harry let his shirt fall to the ground without a care, then he took a single step out into the blinding sunlight, and I had _just barely_ managed to reach him before he could expose himself.

"Don't!!!" I gasped when I practically tackled him back into the shade.

"Heaven..." he hummed happily, when he immediately wrapped his arms around me, but I was quick to pull away and attempt to bring him back down to Earth.

"Open your eyes. _Look at me_ ," I rushed out, as I gently held him by his nape. "I'm alive," I breathed, and when he finally met my gaze, he was quick to pull me into the tower with him.

"You're here..." his brows furrowed in confusion, as he stared down at me.

"I'm here," I assured him breathlessly.

"You're _alive_ ," he beamed.

"I needed to make you see me once..." I told him. "You had to know that I was alive, that you didn't have to feel guilty about _anything_. I-I can... I can let you go, now," I looked him in the eye once more, and I could only hope that he could see the pain within them when I did so.

"I never acted out of guilt," Harry shook his head. "I just couldn't live in a world where you don't exist."

My brows furrowed in confusion when I heard that.

"B-But you said--"

"I lied," he interrupted me. "I _had_ to lie... but you believed me, so easily."

I quietly scoffed at that, "because it _doesn't make sense_ for you to love me... I mean, I'm _nothing._ I'm human... I'm nothing."

"Louis," his eyes welled with tears when he suddenly cupped my face in his hands. "You're _everything_ to me," he promised me. "You're _everything_."

Then, before I could get another word out, Harry's lips were on mine and all of my troubles seemed to momentarily dissipate, as he held me in his loving embrace.

However, at the sound of footsteps from the other end of the corridor, Harry reluctantly pulled away from me, but he kept me well guarded, by holding me close to his strong chest, and cradling the back of my head with one of his hands.

"I won't be needing your services after all, gentlemen," Harry told the two red-eyed men, presumably guardians of the Volturi, that steadily approached us.

"Aro wants to speak with you again," one of them said.

"No rules were broken," Harry replied simply.

"Nonetheless, we should take this conversation to a more... _appropriate_ venue."

"Fine," he muttered. "Louis, why don't you go and enjoy the rest of the festival?"

"The boy comes with us," one of the guards insisted.

" _No_ ," Harry snapped. "You can go to hell."

Alice joined us within the clock tower, then, and promptly removed her shades and scarf, now that she was safe from the rays of the beaming sun.

"Come on, guys. It's a festival," she hummed toward the guards with an innocent-looking smile. "You wouldn't want to make a scene."

"We wouldn't."

"Enough," a blonde-haired, red-eyed _teenager_ approached us then.

" _Jane_..." Harry sighed quietly, with a knowing head shake.

"Aro sent me to see what was taking so long," she announced flatly once she'd reached us, only to immediately turn on her heel and begin to walk away.

Harry laced our fingers together, and Alice followed close behind, as he led me down the corridor after the blonde.

"Just do as she says," Alice told me quietly, to which I pursed my lips and tried my best to focus on the way my hand seemed to fit perfectly within Harry's, rather than allow any of my anxious thoughts to take precedence.


	12. eleven

"What a happy surprise! Louis is alive after all! Isn't that wonderful?"

I stayed as close as I possibly could to Harry, after we'd followed Jane into the grand home of the Volturi. A red-eyed vampire approached us, with long, pin straight, black hair. I could only assume he was their leader. The man wore a beaming smile, but even so, something about it was quite unnerving.

"I love a happy ending," he reached to take Harry's hand in his, that had been holding mine, but I kept my mouth shut. "They are so rare," the man sighed as he stared Harry in the eye for a moment. "Ah..." he suddenly turned to look down at me. "His blood appeals to you so much... it makes me thirsty," he swallowed thickly. "How can you stand to be so close to him?"

"It's not without difficulty," Harry admitted.

"Yes, I can see that."

Harry glanced over at me then, in order to briefly explain that, "Aro can read every thought I've ever had, with one touch." Then he looked back at Aro with his jaw set tight, "so, now you know everything. So, get on with it."

Aro let go of Harry's hand, but his smile never faded. "You are quite a soul reader yourself, Harry," he thought aloud. "Though you can't read Louis' thoughts... _fascinating_." Aro turned to me once more. "I would like to see if you are an exception to my gifts, as well." He held a hand out for me to take. "Would you do me the honor?"

I looked up at Harry for guidance, as I was unsure of what I should've said or done in that situation, but Harry just placed an encouraging hand on the small of my back, so I reached to accept Aro's hand in mine.

Then after a moment, he uttered, "interesting... I see nothing."

He let go of my hand and moved to sit upon what appeared to be a throne, alongside two other red-eyed male vampires, but before he took a seat, he looked to Jane.

"Let us see if he's immune to all our powers," he thought aloud. "Shall we, Jane?"

" _No_!" Harry refused their idea, and even went so far as to lunge toward Jane, but the teen only smirked at his attempt to apprehend her.

"Pain," she hummed simply, and in the next instant, Harry was frozen in place.

He hissed and groaned in pain, before he collapsed to his knees on the marble floor, and I couldn't bare to see them torture him any longer.

"Stop! _Please_ , stop!" I tried to rush to Harry's side, but one of the guards was quick to hold me back. "Just stop hurting him! _Please_!" I begged.

"Jane?" Aro called her and she immediately met his gaze.

"Master," she answered, ceasing her torturing of Harry and causing him to release a shaky exhale, from where he was doubled over on the floor.

"Go ahead, my dear," Aro encouraged her to test out her "gift" on me next, and I immediately tensed within the bruising grip of the guard, when Jane faced me once more.

"This may hurt just a little," she told me and I mentally braced myself for the pain she prepared to inflict, but after a few awkward moments, Aro broke the silence with an excited laugh.

"Remarkable!" he gaped at me in astonishment, while Jane's brows furrowed in frustration. "He confounds us all. So, what do we do with you, now?"

"You already know what you're going to do, Aro," said one of his fellow leaders, a much older vampire named Marcus.

"He knows too much," the other, a blonde named Caius, added. "He's a liability."

"Hm... that's true," Aro hummed in thought as they all just stared at me. "Felix?"

The guard who held me, immediately turned me to face his partner, and Harry was off the ground in seconds.

"No!" he shoved the man away from me, only to be seized by the throat and slammed into the marble beneath his feet.

Alice even rushed to try and defend her brother, only to be grabbed by Jane's twin brother, Alec.

We were both forced to watch Felix drag Harry across the floor, pick him up, and slam him down against the stairs leading up to the Volturi's thrones.

Then, they pulled him up onto his knees, and Felix grabbed Harry's head with both of his hands, but before he could twist Harry's neck and break it, I spoke up.

"Kill me!" I begged. "Kill me! Not him!"

"How extraordinary..." Aro's brows furrowed in confusion as he approached me one more, and Felix brought Harry up onto his feet again, but kept a firm grip around his throat. "You would give up your life for someone like us; A vampire. A soulless monster."

"Just get away from him!" Harry choked out, through gritted teeth.

"You don't know _a thing_ about his soul," I argued.

But Aro just sighed and turned to look at Harry then. "This is a sadness... if only it were your intention, to give him immortality."

Aro's gaze fell upon me once again and he was quick to lunge toward me, but before he could bare his fangs and make me into his next meal, Alice spoke up from where she was still being restrained by one of the guards.

"Wait! Louis will be one of us. I've seen it," she rushed out. Then, she looked over at Harry with an apologetic expression, before she added, "I'll change him myself."

Aro held an expectant hand out toward Alice then, so the guard released her, and she slowly made her way up to the man before placing her hand in his.

Then, after a moment, Aro's expression shifted into that of enlightenment. "Mesmerizing," he smiled at her, "to see what you have seen before it has happened."

Aro moved back to me then, and he caressed my face with one of his frigid hands, before leaning in to whisper to me.

"Your gifts will make for an _intriguing_ immortal, Louis," he said, before he was quickly backing away from me, as though pulling himself out of a trance. "Go, now," he told Harry, who was released from Felix's death grip, before he quickly made his way into my arms. "Make your preparations."

"Let us be done with this. Heidi will arrive any moment," Marcus droned. Then, he smiled, as he said to me, "thank you for your visit."

"We will return the favor," Caius told us. "I would advise that you follow through on your promise, soon. We do not offer second chances."

Harry's brows remained frustratedly furrowed, even as he turned me around and encouraged me to follow Alice out of the room.

"Goodbye, my young friends!" Aro called to us in a chipper tone.

**\---**

A few nights later, back in Forks, I gasped when I opened my eyes to find that I was lying in my bedroom, with Harry sitting at my side. His eyes held concern in them, but his hands were gently rubbing along my arms to try and soothe me, and I could see the pitch black sky through the window behind him. That's when I realized that he had shaken me from another nightmare.

"You're here..." I breathed out of relief.

"You can sleep," he offered me a weak smile. "I'll still be here when you wake up," he promised me, before he began to explain, "Louis, the only reason I left was because I thought I was _protecting_ you. I needed you to have a chance at a normal, happy life."

I sighed quietly in response. "It was so easy for you to leave..." I shook my head sadly.

"Leaving you was the hardest thing I've done in 100 years," Harry told me without hesitation, and with sincerity in his voice and his gaze, he said, "and I swear, I will _never_ fail you again."

He reached down to gently caress my face.

"I'm so sorry," he shook his head self-deprecatingly, before a noise from the hallway interrupted him. "Mark's coming."

When he opened the door, a second later, Harry was out of sight.

"You okay?" Mark asked me, and I could only assume he'd heard me yelling in my sleep again.

"I'm fine," I assured him, but the look he gave told me that he didn't quite believe it, so I added, "dad, you don't have to worry."

"You know, last time you said that, you took off. I didn't see you for 3 days," he replied and I couldn't even fault him for it because he was right.

"I'm really sorry, dad," I apologized.

"Louis," he began softly yet sternly, "do not _ever_ do that to me again. Ever. Also you're grounded for the rest of your life."

I managed a smile for him then, "okay."

Once he left, closing the door on the way out, Harry was revealed to be hiding silently behind it.

"I'm not technically breaking any of his rules," Harry thought aloud as he moved to kneel beside my bed. "He did say I couldn't take a step inside the door... but I came in through the window."

I giggled softly at that as I moved to lean on my elbow in order to give him my undivided attention.

"He's not gonna forgive me easily," Harry said.

"I know," I nodded.

"Can you?" he asked me, with his voice just above a whisper, and a glint of hope in his honey gold eyes. "I hope you can... because I honestly don't know how to live without you."

"Come here," I whispered to him then, rather than choosing to focus on all of the pain we'd faced over the course of the last several months, and when I leaned in to kiss him, I smiled against his lips because he let it happen. 

However, I pulled away after a few lingering smooches, as I didn't want to overwhelm him, and I was simultaneously curious about where exactly we would go from here.

"Once Alice changes me..." I began, "you can't get rid of me."

"She won't need to change you," he replied, causing my smile to fade. "There are always ways to keep the Volturi in the dark."

"No," I shook my head at him, and when he remained silent, I immediately pushed myself up and out of bed. " _No_."

Regardless of his opinion on the matter, I wasn't going to allow Harry and his family to break the laws of their kind, nor risk their lives in doing so, all for the sake of keeping me human.

Especially not after what I'd just gone through in order to save Harry from being executed in Italy.


	13. epilogue

I had asked Harry to take me home with him that night, so we could discuss, with his family, what happened during the meeting with the Volturi.

"You all know what I want," I spoke generally to the Styles, after they'd been made aware of the fact that the Volturi expected one of them to turn me soon, "and I know how much I'm asking for... and the only thing that I can think of, for it to be fair, is to just vote."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Harry mumbled under his breath, from where he stood behind me, to which I glanced back and narrowed my eyes at him.

"Shut up," I grumbled.

Then, Alice immediately moved to squeeze me within her strong embrace.

"Alice?" I curiously asked her of her opinion.

"I already consider you my brother," she told me, causing my heart to swell with endearment, as I hugged her back just as tight. "Yes," she voted, in favor of turning me.

"Thank you," I smiled happily in response.

"I vote yes," Jasper added. "It would be nice to not want to kill you all the time," he teased me with a playful smirk.

"I'm sorry," Rosalie spoke up then with a remorseful expression. "I'm really sorry, to both of you, for how I've acted," she glanced between Harry and I, before focusing solely on me, "and I'm really grateful that you were brave enough to go and save my brother... but this isn't a life I would've chosen for myself, and I wish that there had been someone to vote no for me," she admitted with an apologetic half-smile. "So, no..." she voted, against turning me.

"I vote hell yeah," Emmett chimed in, before scooping me up off the floor into a massive bear hug, "and we can pick a fight with these Volturi some other way."

"I already consider you a part of the family," Anne told me, as Emmett set me back down. "Yes," she voted, with a proud nod.

Desmond took a step forward then, as he was the last remaining vote, however, he didn't need to say anything aloud for Harry to know his answer.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Harry asked his family, with his jaw set tight and his eyes showing defeat. "You know what this means..."

"You've chosen not to live without him," Desmond told his son sternly, "which leaves me no choice. I _won't_ lose my son."

**\---**

"I'll wait until after graduation..." I said to Harry, when he drove me home a little later on, "to make it easier on Mark."

He was silent, but even so, I knew he was listening.

"Harry, I want you to be the one to do it..." I requested sheepishly, as I already knew he was going to protest against the idea because he had been _actively_ protesting the _entire_ concept of _anybody_ turning me.

Then, Harry immediately pulled over and I prepared myself for a lecture, but none would ever come because standing up in the road ahead, was Jacob Black.

"He wants to talk to me," Harry explained, having read his thoughts.

Then, Jacob turned on his heel, in order to march into the thick cover of trees that surrounded the road on either side, and Harry & I hesitantly moved to exit the car and follow him.

Once we were a good distance from the road, Jacob turned to me and said, "so, you're still alive... _for_ _now_."

"He thinks it's _me_ keeping you away," Harry shook his head at him with a curt laugh.

"You stay the hell out of my head," Jacob glared at him.

"Jacob, I know you have something to say to me," Harry began calmly, and he took a few steps closer to him, "but I want to say something to you first, if that's alright."

Jacob didn't say anything, so he continued.

"Thank you," Harry told him genuinely. "Thank you, for keeping Louis alive, when I didn't."

"No," Jacob hummed in agreement, "you didn't... and it wasn't for your benefit, trust me."

"I'm still grateful," Harry shook his head nevertheless. "But I'm here, now... and I'm not gonna leave his side, until he orders me away."

"We'll see," Jacob shrugged simply. "My turn to talk. I'm here to remind you about a key point in the treaty."

"I haven't forgotten," Harry assured him, but I had no idea what they were talking about, so I curiously spoke up.

"What key point?"

"If any of them bites a human, the truce is over," Jacob explained simply.

"But if I choose it, then it has nothing to do with you," I shook my head at that.

"No," Jacob's brows furrowed incredulously. " _No_! I won't _let_ _you_. You're not gonna be _one of_ _them_ , Louis."

"It's not up to you," I sighed as I was growing quite tired of the two of them, always trying to tell me what I should and shouldn't do, simply because they felt it's what was best for me.

I know what's best for me.

"You know what we'll do to you. I won't have a choice," Jacob shook his head.

"Louis... please, come..." Harry reached for my hand.

"Wait," I stayed put. "Is he gonna hurt me? Read his mind."

Harry didn't answer, which was all the answer I needed, so I stepped closer to Jacob.

"Jake... _I love you_ ," I told him sincerely. "So, _please_... don't make me choose... 'cause it'll be him," I gave an apologetic half-smile when his eyes became glassy. "It's _always_ been him."

"Louis..." he said disappointedly, and his voice was just above a whisper.

"Goodbye, Jacob," Harry said quietly as he reached for my hand again.

"No! _You_ don't speak for him!" Jacob squared up to him, only for Harry to easily shove him, several feet back, with his forearm.

Jacob instinctively phased because of it and once he was back on his paws, beginning to snarl, Harry quickly encouraged me to return to the car.

"Louis, get out of here."

He hissed when Jacob suddenly began to charge him then, but I bravely moved to stand between the pair of supernaturals, before they could try and rip each other to shreds.

"Stop!" I shouted exasperatedly. " _Stop_! You can't hurt each other without hurting _me_!"

Then, with a deep growl and a quiet huff, Jacob reluctantly turned his back on us and began to walk away.

I sighed quietly when he suddenly broke into a sprint. "Jake..." I called after him weakly.

"He's right," Harry told me. "You shouldn't become what I am."

"I can't do this alone," I shook my head at him, feeling somewhat defeated already.

"Then, please, just wait," Harry sighed, before he reluctantly compromised, "just give me... 5 years."

I pursed my lips in response. "That's too long..."

"Then, 3?" 

He raised an amused brow when I didn't answer. 

"You're so stubborn," he smirked.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked him curiously.

Harry's smirk widened into a full grin, and he thought to himself for a moment, before seriously deciding, "I have 1 condition... if you want me to do it myself."

I felt my heart beat a bit faster upon hearing that.

"What's the condition?"

Harry looked me in the eye and told me, "and then, _forever_."

I smiled in response because I had _finally_ managed to get it through to him, that being his for all of eternity, was _well_ worth whatever consequences awaited.

"That's what I'm asking."

However, the words he uttered next, were not exactly what I had been expecting to hear of him that day, nor any time soon, really.

"Marry me, Louis," he said.

And who was I to deny him of my heart's burning desire?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading New Moon! 🐺
> 
> If you've enjoyed reading this Larry/Twilight series so far, then I hope you'll enjoy the next book as well.
> 
> Eclipse is now available for you to read in my works!
> 
> 🌕🌔🌓🌒🌑


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